The room was dark.
The room in the underground base had no windows.
The air hung low, and the ceiling felt close, as if pressing down.
A small lamp on the wall flickered faintly.
Bido lay with her eyes closed, but she could not sleep.
The sensation left on her throat had not yet faded.
The moment she had been lifted by one hand.
The pressure that had choked off her breath.
But what remained clearer than that—
Were those eyes.
A gaze that did not look at her,
but seemed to turn her inside out and peer within.
Bido felt along her neck with her fingertips.
Her skin was unharmed,
yet the pressure of being seized and lifted still remained.
Every time she drew breath, it felt as though those fingers followed.
Those eyes.
Neither pity nor anger,
but eyes confirming something.
Feeling as though even the sound of her heartbeat had been exposed,
Bido clenched her molars harder.
She slowly steadied her breathing and pressed that sensation down again.
Then she slowly opened her eyes.
Miryeong, sitting with her back against one wall of the same room, was still awake.
Amid the peculiar smell of the underground,
her ears moved ever so slightly.
“Lady Miryeong.”
Bido called softly.
“What.”
Miryeong answered shortly.
“That man… who is he?”
A brief silence passed.
The lamplight swayed faintly.
Miryeong slowly opened her mouth.
“…That’s him. The Demon of Fire.”
Bido quietly repeated it.
“Demon…”
Miryeong tilted her head.
“He’s a dragon.”
“Though he acts like a human.”
Her eyes hardened.
“It feels filthy to face him.”
When Bido looked at her without a word,
Miryeong added in a low voice.
“Those aren’t eyes that look at the surface.”
“He’s the kind that looks inside.”
Miryeong’s words settled quietly.
Bido mulled over them.
Inside.
That man had said it.
Seonhwa?
The moment that name came to mind,
she felt strange.
It was unfamiliar.
And yet…
It was not entirely unfamiliar.
As though it were a name she had heard long ago.
But surely,
she had never heard it before.
Something deep inside her chest tugged ever so faintly.
A sensation similar to when she had first faced Roan.
It had been the same then.
The moment their eyes met,
something inexplicable had flinched inside her.
Bido slowly closed her eyes.
At that moment—
“Idiot.”
A low voice came out.
Bido’s eyes flew open, and she sat up.
Miryeong raised her head.
“What was that?”
Bido, startled, steadied her breath and said,
“…It’s nothing.”
Before she knew it,
her mouth had moved first.
Miryeong looked at Bido for a moment.
Then she soon turned her head away.
“You must be tired.”
“Sleep.”
It was a short remark.
“We’ll probably be staying here for a while.”
After a moment, she added,
“I’ll show you around tomorrow.”
“This place.”
Miryeong said, looking up at the low ceiling underground.
“You’ll have to get used to it.”
The room grew quiet again.
The lamplight flickered faintly.
Bido closed her eyes,
but still could not fall asleep easily.
—
Another room underground.
Only Yun and Rangnan remained.
After a short silence, Yun spoke first.
“So that is what happened.”
Rangnan nodded.
“That is what happened.”
Yun’s gaze quietly lowered.
“Will that child… be able to bear it?”
There was no reproach in those words.
Only worry seeped through them.
For a moment,
Rangnan could not answer.
Just for an instant.
“I don’t know.”
It was an honest answer.
Yun waited without a word.
Rangnan continued in a low voice.
“But the current has already begun.”
His gaze brushed the floor.
“Whether that child wants it or not.”
“It cannot be stopped.”
Yun folded his hands over his knees.
The tips of his fingers trembled ever so slightly.
As if to hide that trembling,
he pressed once against a knuckle with his thumb.
Rangnan continued speaking, unable to raise his gaze.
To them, the word current was not a premonition, but proof.
The sword had reacted,
and the Empire had moved.
Now all that remained was time.
Yun asked softly,
“Then… what will you tell the child?”
Rangnan’s throat moved once.
“I cannot tell her everything.”
“But… I will not leave her alone.”
Yun’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
“Then what we can do is…”
“Only stay by her side.”
Rangnan’s answer was quiet.
There was less certainty in those words than resolve.
Yun slowly exhaled.
“I do not wish to lose someone again.”
Rangnan’s gaze wavered.
“Nor do I.”
He said it very softly.
—
There was no light called morning in the underground base.
Instead, sound awoke first.
The sound of water boiling in the distance.
The low resonance of metal striking metal.
The sound of someone swallowing back a cough.
Bido slowly opened her eyes.
She was already awake.
Without having slept.
Across from her, Miryeong rose and said,
“You didn’t sleep well again?”
Bido did not answer for a moment.
Faint shadows lay beneath her eyes.
“…A little.”
Miryeong let out a short breath.
“It’s been four days.”
It sounded like nagging,
but her voice was not sharp.
“Ever since the day you swung that sword.”
Bido lowered her head.
The sensation of that day was still vivid.
The rampage.
The pain as though she would shatter.
And—
The voice she had heard in the darkness.
Miryeong stood and said,
“It’s because it’s more stifling underground.”
“Once you get used to it, it’ll be a little better.”
After hesitating for a moment, she added,
“Or maybe you’re just sensitive.”
Bido gave a small laugh.
“That might be it.”
“Come on.”
Miryeong gestured.
“Let’s go.”
“You’re hungry, right?”
—
The corridor was low.
The walls were a mixture of earth and stone,
and here and there, they were marked by the touch of hands.
Bido walked slowly, observing her surroundings.
A man asleep with his back against the wall.
A woman cleaning her weapon with bandages wrapped around her.
A Haraya woman standing quietly with a child in her arms.
Some nodded when their eyes met hers,
and some simply passed by.
Someone’s cough echoed down the low corridor.
Without realizing it, Bido softened her footsteps.
This was not Gundo Village,
but a place where wounds gathered and breathed.
Strangely, that fact put her at ease.
“These people…”
Bido asked softly.
“Are they all part of the Eunwoldan?”
Miryeong shrugged.
“For the time being.”
“Why?”
Miryeong tilted her head as if thinking.
“People with nowhere to go.”
It was brief.
“People the Empire pushed out.”
Bido looked around again.
There were humans,
and there were Haraya.
Some had their ears cut off,
and some had old scars over their eyes.
Everyone was quiet.
“Lady Yun…”
Bido asked again.
“Why did he start it?”
Miryeong slowed her steps for a moment.
“Yun is just…”
She laughed shortly.
“The sort of person who can’t pretend he didn’t see what he saw.”
Miryeong began walking again and added,
“The Sun God Church came into the city, the rules changed.”
“People were driven out.”
“He couldn’t just stay still.”
Her words were short,
but respect was imbued in them.
“That’s how it began.”
Miryeong said briefly.
“This place.”
—
At the end of the corridor, what drifted out was not light,
but a warm smell.
It was the space for meals.
The air in the dining area was hot.
The smell of boiling soup mixed with the damp scent of wet clothes,
and for a moment, the chill of the underground was pushed back.
From there, sound came bursting out first.
“Hey, Mendel. Who the hell made you like this?”
“No, seriously, look at you. What is this state you’re in?”
It was an agitated voice.
Inside the dining area,
a sturdy man with brown hair sticking up was waving his hands in front of Mendel.
“You’ve gotten so gaunt. Have you even been eating properly?”
Mendel was smiling with an awkward expression.
“Lord Hurta… I’m fine.”
Just then, Mendel’s gaze turned toward the door.
“Ah, Lady Bido. Lady Miryeong.”
Bido’s eyes met Mendel’s.
Then her gaze naturally fell downward.
The bandages wrapped around his back.
The thick layers that showed clearly even through his clothes.
The subtle signs of pulling whenever he moved his body.
It was the mark left by the sword she had swung.
Mendel was smiling as usual,
but that “I’m fine” smile
felt thinner than the cloth covering his wound.
Bido tried to bring out an apology,
but her throat closed up, and the words would not come.
Her gaze was held by those bandages for a moment.
Briefly, but unmistakably.
Something inside her chest quietly sank.
Hurta did not miss it.
“What, you.”
Hurta’s eyes turned to Bido.
In the beat that Bido flinched,
Miryeong’s fist moved first.
Thwack.
“Shut up, Hurta.”
Miryeong’s fist struck Hurta squarely on the head.
“Aagh! Miryeong, you really—”
Hurta grumbled, clutching his head.
“What, where’d you leave your husband—”
He had not finished speaking.
The air went cold.
Miryeong’s expression hardened.
Without a word, she turned her back.
And walked straight past.
Hurta said with a blank face,
“…What? Why?”
Mendel let out a sigh.
“Haa… Lord Hurta…”
Bido stood there for a moment,
then followed after Miryeong.
—
Miryeong stood in a corner with her back against the wall.
In her hand was a silver-tinged fibula.
She slowly rubbed its surface with her thumb.
Bido spoke carefully.
“Lady Miryeong…”
A moment of silence arose.
Miryeong opened her mouth in a low voice.
“He was…”
She swallowed a short breath.
“A really noisy guy.”
The corner of her mouth moved ever so faintly.
“Always making pointless jokes.”
“Stepping forward for no reason.”
“He was an annoying guy.”
After a moment, she said softly,
“Melanie.”
When that word ended,
her hand, which had been rubbing the fibula, stopped.
Miryeong quietly put it away inside her clothes.
Then she pushed herself off the wall and said,
“Let’s go.”
“We need to eat.”