Bi Yeonseom, who had been left alone in the barracks,
amidst the roaring sounds from outside
and an indescribable atmosphere, was still on edge.
It had been about half an hour since Gu Jeolyeop had left,
and not a single person had come looking for him in the barracks during that time.
‘…Is it really okay for me to just stay here like this?’
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t tell if he was supposed to be here.
If this had been the Alliance, they would have thrown him into a makeshift cell at the very least, saying they needed to verify his identity.
In a way, this was an unavoidably sloppy way of handling things.
He worried that something might go wrong if he stayed like this.
If someone discovered a complete stranger just sitting here,
there was no telling what kind of accident might occur.
Just as he continued to fidget restlessly.
Swish.
Someone entered the barracks where Bi Yeonseom was.
Perhaps because a gap opened as someone entered,
he felt a chill mixed in, as if the wind was blowing.
Summer was just around the corner, so what was with this chill?
Had his senses dulled from too much tension?
“Hmm?”
The one who entered the barracks showed a subtle reaction upon facing Bi Yeonseom.
The problem was with Bi Yeonseom, who faced the one who had entered.
“U-…Uhhh?”
The one who entered the barracks was a woman, and an incredibly beautiful one at that.
Her skin was fair and pure, of course.
With flowing black hair and sky-blue eyes that looked as if gems had been embedded in them.
She was a beauty whose mere presence was enough to make one’s heart tremble.
On top of that, Bi Yeonseom knew who this woman was.
He had seen her from afar before.
“…Seolbong, is that… Seolbong…?”
“Who are you?”
Seolbong Moyong Huia.
It was definitely her.
He remembered seeing her from afar at the Yongbong Gathering held last year.
No man could ever forget such a beautiful woman.
“A-… I, I am.”
He should have first wondered why Seolbong was here.
But Bi Yeonseom’s mind short-circuited at the fact that he was conversing with the Seolbong of the world, and he couldn’t speak properly.
And Moyong Huia, watching such a Bi Yeonseom, lightly tidied her hair and asked back.
“Are you perhaps the one that Yeolhyeopgeom brought?”
“A-Aah. Yes! That’s right. I-I’m called Bi Yeonseom.”
“Oh my, he must have brought another one. You must have had a hard time.”
“No… wh-what do you mean, hard time.”
“Then, where did the Yeolhyeopgeom who brought you go?”
As if she had no interest in the name he had offered.
Moyong Huia threw only questions at Bi Yeonseom with an icy cold face.
“…H-He said he would bring someone and then disappeared.”
“Leaving you here?”
“Yes….”
“…Honestly.”
Lost in thought for a moment at Bi Yeonseom’s answer,
Moyong Huia gently touched her lips with her pretty fingertips.
That appearance was so captivating that Bi Yeonseom had to calm his pounding heart.
Having perhaps finished her thoughts, Seolbong spoke to Bi Yeonseom.
“Follow me.”
“Yes?”
“It feels off to leave you here. I had to go anyway. I said follow me.”
“A-Ah, understood!”
He wondered if it was really okay to go out,
but he dared not disobey Seolbong’s words.
He felt that way for some reason.
As Moyong Huia exited the barracks,
Bi Yeonseom, who quickly followed after her, felt as if he were dreaming.
‘To think I’m walking with Seolbong….’
To think he was strolling through the forest with that famous Seolbong.
Though he had been abandoned by his comrades and ended up coming to this dangerous forest,
the very fact that he had met Seolbong made him feel as if all his worries had disappeared.
He carefully entered the forest alongside Seolbong.
At first, Bi Yeonseom was in a good mood simply because he was with Seolbong,
but he soon felt a strange sense of unease.
‘Why… can’t I hear anything?’
Not even the basic sounds that should be heard in a forest.
He couldn’t even feel the presence of the smallest creatures.
She must have felt this strangeness as well,
yet she simply crossed the forest as if she were used to it.
How much time had passed?
After passing several trees and coming out into a slightly open area, Bi Yeonseom—
“Hhuhp…!”
—had to swallow a hollow breath at the sight before his eyes.
The corpses of the blue demonic beasts he had encountered on the plains were strewn all around.
There were so many he dared not count them.
Moreover, they looked as if they had not been dead for very long.
The state of the demonic beasts, which looked as if they had been burned or torn apart alive,
was horrifying enough to make even Bi Yeonseom, who had experienced actual combat a few times, flinch.
That was how grotesque it was.
He glanced to see if Seolbong was surprised by this,
but rather, Seolbong simply walked past them as if she were used to it.
“D-Did a Demon Gate open or something?”
Bi Yeonseom spoke up in an awkward tone, but
Seolbong acted as though she couldn’t care less, as if she barely heard him.
Feeling awkward, Bi Yeonseom shut his mouth and followed Seolbong again,
doing his best to ignore the corpses of the demonic beasts strewn about.
‘…Just who did all of this?’
Every single one of them was a blue demonic beast.
Bi Yeonseom could handle a blue demonic beast himself,
but he couldn’t fight countless numbers like this.
‘Did a group handle them?’
That was the only way to see it.
How could one person handle this many?
Not even the Yeolhyeopgeom who had saved him,
nor even that pinnacle martial artist called Mueot who had been standing guard earlier,
would have been able to handle this many alone.
How much further had they walked?
Seolbong, who had been walking for a while, stopped first.
Bi Yeonseom also soon stopped after her.
And.
“…Huh… Huh…”
Bi Yeonseom had to slump down at the unbelievable sight that met his eyes.
“Wh-What… is this…?”
At first, he thought it was a small hill.
Too small to be called a mountain, too big to be called a mound.
He had thought it was an ordinary hill one would see while passing by.
But.
Once Bi Yeonseom realized what it truly was, he had to sit down and tremble.
What formed that hill was all demonic beasts.
He felt he now understood why he hadn’t sensed the presence of demonic beasts the deeper they went.
It was because all the savage demonic beasts of this forest had perished and formed a hill.
And on top of that hill, he could see someone of unknown identity sitting.
It was someone sitting cross-legged, chin in hand, looking down at the ground.
Perhaps because darkness shrouded him, his face couldn’t be seen properly.
But he could see the red eyes blinking.
“I told you before.”
At the voice coming from atop the hill,
Bi Yeonseom flinched.
Because the voice was younger than he had expected.
Too deep for a boy, too thin for a young man.
Somewhere in between.
“Why do you bring back a piece of baggage every time you go out?”
The man’s words seemed to contain all the annoyance and irritation in the world.
They were directed at someone.
Wondering just who he was speaking to, Bi Yeonseom looked and saw
someone kneeling on the ground on the other side of the hill, hands raised high into the sky.
It was exactly the way Bi Yeonseom had been scolded by his grandfather when he was a snot-nosed seven-year-old.
“…Huh?”
Bi Yeonseom had to open his eyes wide at the person receiving such punishment.
And for good reason, because the Yeolhyeopgeom Gu Jeolyeop, who had saved him, was the one being punished.
The difference from when Bi Yeonseom was young was that,
for some reason, he was holding an enormous rock as he stood in punishment.
That Yeolhyeopgeom Gu Jeolyeop….
That Gu Jeolyeop who had radiated sword force and shown his presence.
was standing in punishment in a rather unsightly manner.
“What on earth….”
“I’m here.”
Just as Bi Yeonseom couldn’t properly understand the situation,
Seolbong spoke toward the hill without paying any attention to Gu Jeolyeop.
Though it was a very small voice, it seemed he heard it.
The chilling red eyes turned this way.
Bi Yeonseom trembled as he met the gaze.
But Seolbong looked calm.
Moreover.
For some reason, she now seemed livelier than before.
“You know it’s almost mealtime, right? If you’re done with work, let’s hurry up and go together.”
“Did you come to get me?”
“Because the Young Master simply wouldn’t come.”
Bi Yeonseom was startled.
Because that cold voice of Seolbong contained a hint of laughter.
“…Hah.”
Tap.
A small landing sound.
When Bi Yeonseom turned his head toward the sound,
someone was already standing there.
Until he had come down from the hill to this place,
Bi Yeonseom hadn’t caught a single movement he made.
“Put it down.”
Thud!
The moment the words fell, Gu Jeolyeop dropped the rock he was holding.
“Tsk.”
Looking at such a Gu Jeolyeop, he even clicked his tongue, as if something displeased him.
Without understanding a single thing about the unfolding situation,
Bi Yeonseom checked the face of the one looking around nonchalantly.
“…Huh?”
He was a figure closer to a young man than a boy.
The young man, wearing red martial arts robes and flicking back his hair,
had fierce eyes peculiar to him and a brow furrowed deeply, as if the ways of the world did not please him.
It was an impression one would find difficult to face for long.
And Bi Yeonseom knew someone who looked like that.
…
Because he was the boy who had left a lasting impression in a corner of Bi Yeonseom’s heart since the Martial Arts Tournament.
No, was he a young man now?
“Jin…ryong?”
At the word Bi Yeonseom had blurted out without realizing it,
the young man, Guyang Cheon, shifted his gaze to look at Bi Yeonseom.
“What, punk?”
At the growling voice, Bi Yeonseom thought,
‘Yeah, this must be a dream.’
Somehow.
Seolbong and Jinryong at the front lines.
A pinnacle martial artist standing guard.
He thought it was all so strange.
Wasn’t it just too unrealistic?
“Haha, I must not have slept well; my head seems to have gone strange.”
Bi Yeonseom nodded with certainty.
Thud.
He lost consciousness right there and collapsed to the ground.
“What the hell is wrong with this crazy bastard?”
Guyang Cheon merely looked at such a Bi Yeonseom with a dumbfounded expression.