Rangnan looked at him for a moment,
then slowly glanced around.
The members standing by the door,
the gazes watching the situation with tense faces.
“Let’s go inside.”
After saying that briefly,
Rangnan turned away.
Maho smirked and shrugged.
“Well, let’s do that.”
Rangnan did not answer,
and shifted his gaze to Bido.
“That’s enough for today. Everyone rest.”
It was a brief order.
Aslo was the first to nod.
Miryeong also glared at Maho once before nodding.
Bido looked at Rangnan for a moment,
then finally lowered his head without a word.
“If anything happens, I’ll call for you.”
Rangnan’s words were short,
but they could not be refused.
He turned around.
Maho followed after him.
Raen sprang up from her seat and tagged along.
“I’m going too.”
“You—”
“No.”
Maho frowned,
but in the end, he let out a sigh.
The three of them disappeared down the corridor, deeper inside.
Deep within the Silver Moon Corps,
there was a small room with hardly any windows.
An old map hung on the wall,
and a worn table and a few chairs were all there was.
Rangnan entered first,
pulled out a chair, and sat down quietly.
Maho stepped inside and looked around the room once.
“Still the same.”
He murmured under his breath,
and did not sit in a chair.
Instead, he leaned against the wall beside the table and crossed his arms.
Raen looked back and forth between the two of them, then perched on an empty chair without a word.
Her toes did not reach the floor and swung slightly.
Soon, the door closed.
When the last bit of light was cut off at the threshold,
the air in the room grew thin as paper.
The worn table smelled of old wood,
and the edges of the map had curled from dampness.
Raen rubbed her hands together on her lap.
The chair her toes could not reach creaked softly.
Maho’s breath escaped once, long and slow.
That breath made the lamp tremble faintly.
Rangnan kept his gaze fixed on the tabletop.
A small sound echoed,
and the room fell silent.
For a moment,
no one spoke first.
Rangnan laced his fingers together and placed his hands on the table.
Maho did not avoid his gaze.
Old years had settled between them.
The lamp flickered once.
Just before Maho opened his mouth,
Rangnan spoke first.
“You must have something you want to ask.”
Maho laughed low.
“I do.”
His gaze slowly swept over Rangnan.
“What was that black-haired brat earlier?”
Silence passed for a beat.
“And why is Seonhwa inside that kid?”
The air in the room cooled subtly.
Raen’s toes stopped moving.
Rangnan did not answer at once,
but briefly closed his eyes, then opened them.
“Seonhwa is dead.”
His voice was calm.
The corner of Maho’s mouth twisted.
“I know that too.”
He took one step
toward the table.
“I’m asking why a dead girl looks like she’s inside someone else’s body.”
Rangnan’s gaze lowered slightly.
“That child is not Seonhwa.”
He spoke shortly, cutting off each word.
“She is a trace Seonhwa left behind.”
The word fell into the room.
Raen tilted her head.
“A trace…?”
Maho snorted.
“A trace she left behind?”
“That gets born as a person?”
His gaze sharpened.
“No.”
He continued curtly.
“Seonhwa was not reborn.”
Maho’s eyes narrowed.
Rangnan chose his words.
“That day… the rules collapsed.”
Rangnan’s voice dropped ever so slightly.
The “day” he spoke of
was a night that could not be summed up lightly.
The wind twisted and the moonlight split,
a moment when even dust lost its direction.
The earth rumbled, and people’s screams grew distant.
After that came silence.
It was so quiet that only the sound of a heartbeat rang out, loud as sin.
Raen hunched her shoulders without realizing it.
Maho licked his lips, no longer able to laugh.
The memory still seemed to remain on the tip of his tongue.
As if breaking the silence, Rangnan said,
“Roan’s awakening at the time was powerful enough to tear that entire area apart.”
Maho’s expression hardened.
“In the aftermath, Seonhwa’s soul could not return to the moon where it should have gone.”
“And… it settled into the nearest life.”
Maho’s hand gripped the table.
“Roan did that?”
“It was not intentional.”
Rangnan spoke without emotion.
Maho exhaled sharply.
“So?”
His gaze stabbed into him.
“What does that have to do with stopping Roan?”
Rangnan’s eyes deepened slightly.
“The method I spoke of has nothing to do with Seonhwa.”
For a moment,
the room fell silent.
“Seonhwa is not here.”
Maho’s expression stiffened subtly.
Rangnan continued.
“That child is not Seonhwa.”
“She is of the moon’s bloodline.”
Raen blinked.
“The moon’s…?”
Maho’s gaze moved very slowly.
“The same as Roan?”
Rangnan neither nodded nor shook his head.
“A possibility.”
It was a short answer.
“That child is… a possibility that can stop Roan.”
Maho’s gaze changed subtly.
“A possibility.”
He repeated the word in a low murmur.
Soon, a brief silence flowed between them.
Then,
Maho tossed out a question as if indifferent.
“Does that kid know that?”
The air in the room stiffened almost imperceptibly.
Raen lifted her head.
Rangnan did not answer.
The longer that silence stretched,
the colder Maho’s eyes gradually became.
“So the kid doesn’t know.”
Rangnan’s hands stiffened faintly.
Maho laughed low.
There was no mirth in the sound.
“Again?”
The hand on the table pressed down hard against the wood.
“You’re going to put another child on the stage without letting them know anything?”
Raen flinched in her seat.
“Maho—”
“Stay quiet.”
Maho’s gaze remained fixed on Rangnan to the end.
“It was the same with Roan.”
His words were quiet, but heavy.
“Is this another one of your damned plans?”
Maho’s words scraped through the room.
Rangnan could not answer right away.
His gaze sank ever so slightly,
then lifted again.
“This time… is different.”
Maho’s eyebrow twitched.
“What’s different?”
Rangnan composed his breath and said,
“This time, I won’t decide.”
“It won’t be me.”
The hand resting on the table tensed very slightly, then relaxed.
“I will let that child choose.”
Maho said nothing for a while.
Then he laughed low.
Still, there was no mirth in it.
“Choose?”
He took another step closer.
“After you’ve already set the whole board?”
Rangnan’s eyes wavered for the briefest instant.
The wavering did not last long.
“I will not force her.”
He added shortly.
Maho snorted.
“I’m sure you didn’t think you forced Roan either.”
The air grew a little heavier.
Rangnan did not refute him.
Instead, he said quietly,
“That is why this time is different.”
“That child will not move because of me.”
“If she moves… it will be of her own will.”
Maho’s gaze drifted briefly to the side,
then returned.
“And that’s the method you were talking about?”
Rangnan lifted his head.
“It is a possibility.”
The room grew quiet.
A presence was felt by the door.
Slowly, the door opened.
A Haraya woman stood there.
Her blue-tinged hair was neatly tied back, her eyes calm.
Raen reacted first.
“Oh, it’s Yun.”
Yun’s gaze swept the room.
It passed over Maho,
then stopped on Rangnan.
“Rangnan.”
She bowed her head lightly.
“Have you returned?”
Rangnan rose from his seat and showed proper courtesy.
“It has been a long time, Yun.”
It was a brief greeting.
Yun’s eyes turned toward Maho.
“And… the Fire Dragon.”
The air sank another level.
Maho smirked.
“What, why are you butting in too?”
Yun’s gaze did not waver in the slightest.
“This is the Silver Moon Corps.”
Her words were calm.
“The uninvited guest is you.”
Silence passed for a moment,
and Raen broke it in a small voice.
“Maho, just sit down.”
Maho clicked his tongue with an displeased expression,
but without saying more,
he slowly leaned back into a chair.
Yun took a seat opposite him.
Yun was the first to speak.
“Have you secured the sword?”
Every gaze in the room gathered on Rangnan.
“I have secured it.”
It was a short answer.
Soon, Rangnan added,
“We lost Melanie.”
When that name fell into the room,
the wick of the lamp gave a small pop.
Yun pressed her lips together and lowered her eyes.
The moment of mourning did not last long.
But the corners of her eyes grew ever so slightly damp.
She clenched her hand once, then released it.
It was a motion to set her grief in order.
And again, she drew in a breath.
Raen held her breath and sank deeper into her chair.
Over the worn table,
only the weight of the one they had lost remained.
The air settled low.
“…I see.”
A short breath passed.
Yun’s expression was soon composed.
“Is there no pursuit?”
“Not at the moment.”
Rangnan shook his head.
“But—”
At that single syllable, the room grew quiet again.
“The Empire will be coming after the Silver Moon Corps now.”
Yun’s eyes deepened slightly.
She said nothing,
but her expression showed she understood the meaning.
Yun slowly inhaled.
“…The scale will grow larger, then.”
“They will move more actively than before.”
Rangnan’s words were calm.
Silence continued for a moment.
Maho broke through it and threw out a word.
“Hey.”
His voice was blatantly filled with discomfort.
“What about what we were talking about?”
Raen reacted immediately.
“Oh, come on.”
She glared as she spoke.
“We’re in the middle of something important right now.”
Maho clicked his tongue, displeasure plain on his face.
He scratched his chin and slowly stood.
“Forget it.”
His expression was sour.
“This is your business for now.”
Maho looked once at Yun,
then once at Rangnan.
“The sword and the Empire both.”
He exhaled briefly.
“They’re not my business.”
Raen glanced around uneasily.
Maho walked toward the door, then stopped.
And without turning back, he said,
“Rangnan.”
A brief silence.
“We’ll talk again tomorrow morning.”
His voice was quiet but compressed.
“Then it’ll be about my business.”
Raen hesitated for a moment, gave a small farewell, and followed him out.
The door closed quietly.
Silence remained in the room once more.