Episode 202 - I'll Be Back. (1)
I'll Be Back. (1)
The situation had gone wrong.
I hadn't expected Elder I to come.
When this elder made eye contact with me, he looked me up and down and spoke with narrowed eyes.
"To stand there for the third time... they call that escaping prison."
"That's not it. It might look that way, but I'm telling you it's really not."
Of all times to appear.
My luck was truly terrible.
This elder silently looked at me, then set down the basket he was holding and spoke.
"If not, then explain yourself. Make me understand."
His eyes said he wouldn't let it pass if I didn't speak.
Rather than scolding me immediately, Elder I intended to assess the situation.
Of course, given how suspicious the circumstances were, misunderstandings were natural.
But truly, it was much ado about nothing.
It happened after the pearl emitted light at dawn.
'My vision changed.'
It was an alien sensation I had never experienced before.
One eye seemed to see normally, but the other had changed.
'What is this?'
It was pitch darkness.
What was I seeing right now?
For a moment, I thought one eye had gone blind.
Fortunately, that didn't seem to be the case; gradually, something began to appear in the darkness.
'What? Bars?'
As if faint light was reflecting here and there, I felt like the surroundings were being illuminated.
Just what was I seeing right now?
I wanted to turn in another direction if possible, but it seemed I couldn't by my own will.
Indeed, even if I shifted my gaze, it wouldn't move.
[Why are you like this?]
"Noya, you can't see?"
[What?]
Even Noya, who seemed to share certain physical sensations and emotions with me.
It seemed he couldn't properly read the vision I was seeing now or the thoughts I felt there.
'Then what does this mean?'
Why had such a phenomenon suddenly occurred...
'There's no need to dwell on it.'
It was surely because of the pearl I was holding in my hand.
The circumstances made it obvious.
'...What kind of object is this?'
I needed to figure out its purpose.
'If I let go of the pearl, will it disappear?'
To check, I tried to let the pearl fall from my hand, but—
"...!"
In that instant, something caught in my vision.
Perhaps because my eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness.
In the moonlight shining through a very small window, I faintly saw someone's figure.
A familiar red martial uniform, and long black hair.
A woman with a uniquely fierce appearance despite her pale complexion.
'Gu Huibi...?'
The woman was unmistakably Gu Huibi.
I could see Gu Huibi looking around here and there, surveying her surroundings.
She touched the bars, and stroked the wall.
Perhaps searching for a gap to escape.
In between, she seemed to be saying something somewhere.
Unfortunately, I couldn't hear any sound.
I could only see; it seemed I couldn't hear.
'...Why am I seeing this?'
Setting aside the changed vision, why was it Gu Huibi of all people?
Moreover, it wasn't even from Gu Huibi's own perspective.
Seeing through a third-person perspective—
If this wasn't an illusion...
'...Where is this? I need to know the location.'
Setting aside my bewilderment, I focused on what needed to be done first.
Fortunately, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with Gu Huibi's body.
She didn't appear to have been dragged away and tortured.
After confirming that, I tried to focus my eyes to gather information about the surroundings, but—
'It's too dark and narrow, so I can't see.'
All I could tell was that Gu Huibi's figure was faintly visible.
And only that it was a prison.
It wasn't easy.
'Is it the Dark Night Palace?'
The Palace Lord said she took her, but since there was a possibility it wasn't the Dark Night Palace, I wanted to find out even a little more.
I wanted to see a bit farther than now...
Just as I was thinking that, a sharp pain seared through the eye I was seeing from, and instinctively I covered my eye with my hand.
I had to close my eye because of the pain, but—
Strangely, the vision didn't disappear.
What was surprising wasn't only that.
'...It's getting farther away?'
The vision I was seeing only illuminated Gu Huibi and her immediate surroundings very narrowly.
But because that narrow field of vision was gradually moving away, it showed the surrounding situation.
Moving gradually away from Gu Huibi.
It began to capture the surrounding scenery.
A massive building and fog completely covering the area around it.
Though I couldn't see properly because of the fog, it seemed to be in the middle of a forest.
'...A foggy forest.'
As I was storing each feature into memory.
Together with a stinging sensation in my eye, my vision returned to normal.
As the pain disappeared, nausea surged with a churning sensation.
Since I couldn't leave dirty traces in the already cramped prison cell, I forced myself to swallow it down.
"Urk...."
[What is it, why are you suddenly...?]
"Just... please don't talk to me for a moment."
Since Noya's words resounded directly in my voice, it was dangerous right now.
"...Fog and forest."
Even while covering my mouth, my mind had to work hard.
Even as I thought a fog-covered forest was hardly a distinctive feature.
That it was an area blanketed with such thick fog was important.
And more than anything, if Gu Huibi had already arrived at a certain specific region.
'I need to calculate the distance from the front lines.'
Recalling that the travel period hadn't been very long.
One specific region came to mind.
'Mudong Mountain Range.'
A massive mountain range covered in fog all year round.
In the distant past, a demonic beast had emerged from a White-grade Demonic Gate.
The fog covering the vast forest of the Mudong Mountain Range was the trace left behind after that demonic beast died.
Considering this, if it wasn't an illusion.
It seemed Gu Huibi was in the Mudong Mountain Range.
If this was true, I needed to pass on the information first...
"Huk...!"
As I tried to call someone, I felt an impact in my body and swayed.
I clung to the wall trying to endure, but soon collapsed limply and lost consciousness.
"...So you woke up just now?"
"Yes."
I nodded at Elder I's question.
If he asked why I lost consciousness, it was probably because the backlash of using blood energy in an unrecovered state.
I wonder if my body couldn't endure the accumulating backlash on top of that.
After that happened, when I woke up, it was past noon.
Elder I's expression was grave after hearing my explanation.
I roughly explained what had happened earlier, but he didn't seem to understand well.
"Yangcheon."
"Yes?"
"What does that have to do with you escaping prison right now?"
"...Ah."
Right, I hadn't mentioned the most important part.
I had to clarify the most important part first.
"It's not a prison break."
"Usually, getting out of prison is called escaping. You rascal."
"It's not...."
This was truly unjust.
As soon as I came to my senses and tried to raise my body, I staggered, perhaps because I still hadn't fully come to.
Who would have known that the prison door I grabbed for support would open on its own?
"You're saying the door was open?"
"Surprisingly, yes."
Hearing this, Elder I examined the door behind him.
In fact, there were no traces of the door being forced open or anything broken.
"If I really planned to escape, I wouldn't have done something this stupid."
"So you're saying you're smart, yet you go around causing every accident imaginable?"
"..."
I couldn't think of anything to say to that.
"...The door was open."
Elder I, who had been deep in thought, clicked his tongue and bit his lip as if remembering something.
"I see... These senile old fools."
"Elder I?"
"It's nothing... There is something more important than that right now. Tell me what you mentioned earlier. That you saw where Huibi is."
As if urgent, Elder I pressed me, and I took out the pearl inside my pouch and showed it to Elder I.
"Do you know what this is?"
"...This is."
The moment he saw the red pearl, Elder I's eyes widened slightly.
"Is this not the Pearl of Cheonro? How did you come by this..."
"The Pearl of Cheonro... you say?"
It was a name I heard for the first time.
At least, since Elder I recognized it and knew its name, I could tell it wasn't something a peddler would sell.
"My sister gave it to me. Told me to carry it with me."
"Huibi gave this to you?"
Only then did Elder I make a startled expression, as if realizing something.
"No wonder... so the reason she said she had something she wanted and entered the Secret Vault through the Family Head was for this."
"The Secret Vault...? Did you just say Secret Vault?"
"Yes, did Huibi not tell you?"
As if she would have; I was hearing this for the first time.
If Gu Huibi had truly taken this from the clan's Secret Vault, that meant it was at least a precious artifact class item.
'Something like that, bought from a peddler...? This crazy person...!'
Already wearing precious items all over my body without knowing.
While I was unaware, there was yet another.
At this point, my body was practically a walking treasure vault.
"...Its effect, is it what I suspect?"
"Yes, what you saw was not an illusion, but the power of that pearl."
The power to observe someone far away.
Unable to hear, able only to see, but truly an absurd effect.
'Then the fact that I saw Gu Huibi.'
Did that mean Gu Huibi also held a pearl like this one?
"I knew this, but Huibi is truly quite fond of you."
As Elder I laughed hollowly, I nodded my head vigorously in agreement.
"Tell me about it. To think she would give me something like this just to torment me."
"Hm?"
"She's a scary person."
As if sensing the conversation was going astray, Elder I made a subtle expression, but quickly erased it.
"Still, it is truly fortunate. Thanks to this, we now know where Huibi is."
"...Yes."
"You said the Mudong Mountain Range? I must send a letter to the Family Head quickly."
As Elder I tried to hasten his steps, I stopped him.
"...Please take this."
I intended to hand the Pearl of Cheonro to Elder I.
I had no desire to hold onto such a creepy pearl that let me know what the other person was doing.
More than anything.
It would be better to send it to my father to aid in the search.
However. Elder I shook his head upon seeing it.
"The activation condition for the pearl is to smear one's own blood on the pearl."
"Ah...!"
If Elder I's words were true, it seemed the pearl's power had activated because I touched it with my wounded hand yesterday.
But the words that followed from Elder I were even more shocking.
"Once blood has been infused into the pearl, another cannot use it until the owner dies."
"...What? How can such a damned object exist?"
Not content with merely spying on someone, it was an object that clung like an obsession.
It was as if all the creepiness in the world had been put into making this thing.
"If it sounds like a lie, would you like to die once?"
"..."
At Elder I's words, I quietly tucked the pearl back into my pocket.
"So carry it obediently. Though you could return it to the Secret Vault if need be, but with your personality, you probably couldn't."
He hit the nail on the head.
"...First, this is not a situation for idle chatter, so this old man must go."
"Yes... Understood."
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Having found out where Gu Huibi was, Elder I's steps were urgent.
I watched such an Elder I and slipped back into the prison cell, closing the door with my own hand.
I wondered what a pitiful sight this was, but for now, it had to be this way.
As I entered the cell and was closing the door.
Elder I, who had been walking urgently down the corridor, suddenly stopped and turned his gaze this way.
Then, Elder I called out to me in a solemn voice.
"Yangcheon."
At this, I met eyes with Elder I.
With an expression asking what the matter was.
"This old man has a request for you."
"Please speak."
"Do not go."
"..."
My eyes grew wide at Elder I's words.
Because it was something I had never expected.
Regardless of my expression, Elder I continued.
"It is not something you can help by going."
"...What do you mean, where would I even go?"
"Yes, therefore, do not go."
"Elder I. What on earth are you saying right now..."
"Answer me."
Elder I cut me off firmly.
The urgency I had felt until just now was replaced by a look that said he wouldn't leave without an answer.
Seeing that, I eventually let out a sigh and opened my mouth to Elder I.
"...Understood."
"Thank you."
Seemingly satisfied with my answer, Elder I once again hurried toward the main house with quick steps.
Left on the floor was only the basket containing the food Elder I had brought.
"..."
Food that had already grown cold.
It was food that Elder I had brought saying he would eat with me.
"...Why is the distance so far again? Is he telling me to open the door myself and go get it or what?"
It was a scene that showed how urgent Elder I had been.
At that sight, a hollow laugh escaped me unknowingly, but—
My head was filled with a different thought.
Neither the words Elder I had left me now.
Nor the Pearl of Cheonro Gu Huibi had teasingly given me.
It was the face of a woman from a past life, who looked at me and spoke someday.
—Little brother, be happy.
Her last greeting, given with a smile even when shedding tears would have been insufficient.
It still left me with the question of why on earth she had done so to me.
Now that I had reached this point, because I could vaguely understand what kind of feelings and heart she had delivered those words with.
"I'm sorry."
I had no choice but to apologize.
Because I didn't think I could keep Elder I's request.
Night had fallen.
I didn't know exactly what time it was.
But I knew the sun had completely set.
I gently opened eyes I had been keeping closed while sitting still.
And rose to my feet.
[In the end, you intend to go.]
It was Noya's question.
I fiddled with the pearl in my bosom and nodded.
"Yes."
The pearl did not inform me of Gu Huibi's situation again.
The color of the pearl, which had originally been bright red.
Having become somewhat murky, it seemed time was needed to use it again.
Indeed, the color was gradually returning to its original state.
[It is a dangerous thing.]
"I know."
If that place was truly the main palace where the Dark Night Palace Lord resided.
It would be a situation more dangerous than anything I had seen so far.
I was thinking of walking into such a place of my own accord.
Contrary to the words of watching the future safely.
Paradoxically, I was entering danger myself.
I found myself so absurd that only a hollow laugh came out.
"I've been regretting things my whole life, after all."
Squeak.
The prison door opened without resistance. It still seemed to be unlocked.
There was no one who came to check at this hour anyway.
Was it just for show?
Or was there another intention?
It was still unknown.
"I think I can vaguely tell which would be more regrettable."
If I weighed the regrets.
Now I felt I could discern even the minute differences invisible to the eye.
"The regret of not going seems like it would be a bit greater."
[...]
Noya said nothing at my words.
Not affirming, nor denying—did that mean he respected me?
Though Noya didn't speak properly.
I certainly thought so.
The closer I got to the exit leading up from the underground, the wider I spread my senses.
'Just one at the entrance.'
Just one person?
Even if they said they did shifts.
It was so unstable that I questioned whether they even intended to manage it.
At this level, it was as if they wanted me to escape.
As I was about to exit, I lightly knocked out the main house martial artist guarding the entrance with a gesture.
Since they hadn't sealed my energy in the first place, imprisonment itself was a futile act.
"...How long has it been since I came home."
I think I said the same thing when going to Hanam.
At this point, perhaps the world wouldn't leave me alone.
Otherwise, incidents couldn't arise so relentlessly.
I hadn't intended to escape.
But now I was truly escaping.
Somehow, when I returned, it felt like troublesome matters would swarm in.
'Father will probably let it slide.'
I wasn't certain; it was just a whatever attitude.
If he scolds me, let him scold. Because my own rampage would be scarier than that.
[When will you ever grow up....]
Ignoring Noya's quiet muttering.
I leaped in a direction with few signs of presence.
Since the main house's forces were largely emptied right now.
Escaping without being noticed at my current level was an easy task.
'...The kids are the problem.'
They would be worried as it was.
If I disappeared without a word like this, when I returned, they would give me an unbelievable amount of side-eye.
Especially since Namgung Bia had continuously been hinting that she wanted to speak with me.
If I got caught this time, it was really dangerous.
'She might really draw a sword.'
Namgung Bia was scarier in that regard than Dang Soyeol or Wi Seola.
Because I had seen with my own eyes how she cut people down in her past life.
I bit my lip tightly and moved quickly.
Of course, it wasn't a peaceful enough situation to find the kids and greet them before leaving.
'I'll send a letter later or something.'
Though I wasn't even sure I could do that.
I wrapped my body in qi and repeated several leaps, and before I knew it, the walls of the main house came into view.
Without hesitation, I climbed over the wall and landed on the ground.
Just as I thought I had escaped the main house safely.
I had the illusion that something golden flashed before my eyes.
Wondering if I had seen wrong for a moment, I looked around, but—
I couldn't find any particular anomaly.
The place outside the main house was nothing but pitch darkness.
Only trees enveloped in night and the occasional sound of crickets greeted me.
'An illusion?'
Probably just a firefly passing by.
There were no signs of presence nearby, so I thought it was just that.
As I gathered my bearings and prepared to leap again—
"Young Master."
A familiar voice was heard, and I immediately turned my body greatly in the direction the sound came from.
It was a voice that shouldn't be heard here.
"...You...?"
There.
"...Why are you here?"
Wi Seola was crouching on a tree, looking at me with swollen eyes.