At the World Tree's words.
I had to stand there blankly, as if dealt a great blow to the head.
How could I not?
"My mother is a Calamity?"
Based on the information I had heard from the World Tree until now.
A Calamity was a being like a proxy sent by the world.
To find and erase the original owner of the world, and simultaneously.
To wipe out every living creature upon the land.
If the first one to appear when things went awry was the Blood Demon.
Then the next being that should come to mind was obviously the Heavenly Demon.
"What kind of dog-shit are you spewing right now?"
The words left my mouth like a growl.
Not the Heavenly Demon.
But my mother?
"Does that make any sense?"
[Calm yourself, Apostle.]
"Calm myself?"
Fwoosh.
Unable to control the emotions surging to the end of my throat.
Flames burst from my body without my realizing it.
It was the first time since reaching the peak that my fire qi boiled over because I could not kill my emotions.
I had agonized so much over what the thing inside my body was.
If it had been attached to me in my previous life as well.
That could be possible.
Since it was said to have been unable to awaken.
If it had awakened in this life because of something I ate, calling it a miracle.
I could understand that as well.
I was saying I would try to understand somehow, even if I had to force the pieces to fit.
But.
"A Calamity…."
An existence that erases all living creatures upon this land.
That turns the world into a wasteland, claiming it will set the principles right.
It can't be my mother.
*Kwahng.*
At a footstep filled with emotion.
The floor cracked and caved in.
"…Where is this ridiculous story coming from?"
I tried somehow to cool my head and hear the tale.
But I could not do as my heart wished.
The story of my mother, which had always remained like a lump in my chest.
It was because I had not known it would flow out in this manner.
Already, too much information was flooding in, amplifying the confusion.
Even so, I had to do this.
Being able to obtain such information now.
This was the only chance I would get.
"I am asking what the reason is for viewing my mother as a Calamity."
[Apostle.]
"Yes."
Despite my anger-laced voice, the World Tree was calm.
Rather, it spoke as if it had known I would show such a reaction.
[What do you think the Calamity you speak of is?]
…Didn't you explain all of that just now?
A proxy sent by the world.
I had heard those words at least three times.
At my frown, the World Tree added to its explanation as if it had been waiting.
[Then, where do you think such a being comes from?]
"Excuse me?"
Hearing the World Tree's words, I had to make a strange expression.
Asking where it comes from?
[To know of your mother, you must see what they are.]
"What do you mean?"
I have to know what a Calamity is?
While I racked my brain to interpret the meaning.
The World Tree gave me the answer, as if telling me not to bother.
[The Calamity you think of… is precisely the Master of Another World.]
At the World Tree's words, my eyes widened.
The words "Master of Another World" meant.
Beings like the Blood Demon.
If my mother truly was a Calamity.
It meant she was the master of another world.
When I had heard that the thing inside my body was also a master.
I had expected that not all masters took the form of a tree like the World Tree before my eyes.
The Blood Demon was simultaneously the master of another world.
'...So Mother wasn't human from the start?'
My mother's face, smiling brightly, came to mind.
In my memories.
My mother was an ordinary woman no different from anyone else.
She loved taking care of children.
She was merely a gentle woman who enjoyed the seasons and particularly loved flowers.
If such a mother was actually a Calamity that should have annihilated everyone in the world.
"...That can't be. Then how is the world so peaceful?"
Was it not something that shouldn't be, for the world to be running as it is now?
Moreover, a being that is the master of another world.
Could it leave its own world and cross over to another world like this?
If a Calamity had come.
If my mother truly was a Calamity.
'What about Father?'
At the fleeting thought, I clenched my fist.
If this story were true.
Had Father known this fact?
"My mother was an ordinary woman. Not something like a Calamity."
The Blood Demon had been like that.
As the Heavenly Demon had been.
With appearances that did not look human.
By that overwhelming presence alone, one could tell they were no ordinary people.
As the World Tree said.
Even if the Blood Demon was the master of another world.
That was also why I did not feel it was particularly strange.
But, if my mother was a Calamity.
No matter how much I thought about it, it was incomprehensible.
If that were the case.
'It means I am not human either.'
It only deepened my doubts about my identity.
[Your mother is indeed a Calamity.]
"That is why I keep asking why you think so."
[...]
When I pressed the question.
The World Tree fell silent for a moment.
After a brief, quiet silence, as if choosing its words.
It extended a branch and stroked my hair as if apologetic, then spoke thus.
[To be precise, she is the master of a world that has already disappeared, but these words. It would be more proper for you to hear them from your father rather than from me.]
"...What?"
At the World Tree's words, I finally swallowed a hollow breath.
"Are you saying Father knew as well?"
How many years had it been since I let the word "father" cross my lips?
Perhaps, including my previous life, it had been quite a long time.
That, too, meant how much of a shock this was.
And.
"You too… know my father."
The fact that the World Tree also knew my father.
How far.
Just how far and to what extent were they entangled?
[...]
To my questions, the World Tree often fell silent.
Whether it was choosing its words.
I did not know the reason, but.
I hated that silence so much right now.
When my patience was reaching its end, perhaps the World Tree sensed this.
It finally let out the story it had been holding back.
[It was a very long time ago.]
A very long time ago, by this world's standards.
[It was when your father found this place.]
"Are you saying Father came here?"
[Yes, he was holding the hand of a woman with snow-white hair.]
Snow-white hair?
Who was it talking about?
For a moment I thought of my mother, but my mother had black hair and black eyes.
[How could a human find this place directly? I could not help but be greatly surprised.]
He found it directly?
How could that have been possible?
I too could not have come here were it not for the power of the Cheoljiseon.
Because this place was no ordinary demonic realm.
Now that I had heard the truth, it was even more so.
[I knew the moment I saw her. That woman was the second Calamity.]
The fact that it realized she was a Calamity.
Then the white-haired woman the World Tree spoke of was my mother?
'But, Mother's hair…'
It definitely was not that color.
[I did not know the reason the woman sought me out. There was no reason for her to find me.]
Since the previous owner was already imprisoned and gone from the world.
If she was a Calamity sent to the world.
She merely had to erase all living beings.
Yet the woman sought out the World Tree.
"...What, what on earth did she seek you out for?"
[She asked me to tell her the way to shed the karma of the Calamity upon her body.]
The World Tree said.
My mother had asked to know how to shed the karma of the Calamity that had been cast upon her.
"Is… something like that possible?"
The principles decreed by the world were so important that.
The World Tree was stuck here.
Yeonilcheon had turned back time with the World Tree's power, yet.
In the end, he could not stop the Blood Demon and had to settle for sealing him.
So, could there truly be a way to erase karma?
[No, it is impossible.]
As expected.
The World Tree gave a negative answer.
Even I, who might doubt whether I could call myself human, could see.
Putting that aside.
It was a story of uncertain possibility.
In such a situation.
[However, she thought it might be possible.]
"Excuse me?"
[As I asked at first, to know what your karma is. To know what the existence inside your body is, you must know about your mother.]
I had heard those words.
[Even if they are all masters… not all can be the same.]
Not all can be the same?
Just as the Blood Demon and the World Tree were different.
Even if Mother was the master of a world, did that mean she was somehow different?
I still could not believe my mother was not human.
Like the World Tree I was conversing with.
I could not think of her as something from a completely different dimension of existence.
No matter how much I thought about it.
In my head, my mother was nothing more than an ordinary woman.
I was looking at the World Tree as if I still could not believe it.
As if not minding my gaze.
[The Master of Myriad Worlds (Mangye).]
The World Tree continued speaking to me.
[This is your mother's true name.]
*Shudder.*
Just hearing it, I felt I could tell it was absolutely no ordinary being.
In a certain underground room filled only with cold air.
Through the water vapor that had settled on the floor as if the cold air had taken form.
A woman wearing a face veil was kneeling on both knees with her head bowed.
She was the woman called "Muhui."
She had no other name.
Because her master called her so.
That was her name.
Though it was but a fleeting moment.
Without moving even the slightest.
She simply controlled her breath quietly.
How much time had passed?
A span that would amount to no more than a few seconds.
To someone, it might be but a fleeting moment.
But to her, it was not.
Her master had left this place that was like a nest.
Perhaps the influence from that was not small.
Muhui was waiting for her master with bated breath.
Then.
*Thud.*
A massive vibration rang out, resonating through the room.
*Pitter-patter.*
Dust fell from the ceiling due to the vibration's aftermath.
Dirtying Muhui's hair.
But she showed not even the slightest movement.
A few seconds passed like that.
A brief time flowed by.
*Hoooooo….*
When the smoke settled on the floor grew slightly thicker.
Muhui raised her bowed head and looked straight ahead.
*Hum.*
A vibration came from something shrouded in fog up ahead.
A very faint light flickered.
[Not bad.]
The returned master's voice tickled Muhui's ears.
It was a voice that seemed to be in a good mood, tinged with laughter.
"…Are you alright?"
Muhui asked as if worried.
And for good reason.
Her master was in a state where he could not leave this place carelessly.
[Whether I am alright or not. I had a very pleasant experience.]
The Blood Demon, having heard Muhui's words.
Continued speaking in a voice that seemed satisfied.
[Since only a trace remained, I wondered what scheme had been carried out…. Truly amusing.]
Only a very small trace remained.
With nothing else left behind.
The Blood Demon had been curious until now.
What the master of this world had done.
And.
Why a being that had escaped the principles could block him.
[For a more trivial reason than expected.]
The master who was imprisoned in the Manggye for violating the principles.
Could it be that attachment still remained to this land, trying to struggle?
Whatever the case.
[It is not entirely bad.]
Even if one escapes the unfolded principles.
The world does not permit this, so it turns things back to their original path.
Yet the sight of struggling to escape the path.
Had its own amusement.
But.
[The problem is that the price to pay was greater than expected.]
The Blood Demon was feeling the change that had occurred to him.
To send his own spirit to the Manggye where the original owner was imprisoned.
He had to use a considerable amount of power.
Moreover, since it was entering a vessel that had already lost the value of its flesh.
It was inevitably more difficult.
[Muheui.]
"Yes."
At the Blood Demon's words.
Muheui's veil fluttered.
[Prepare the scales.]
Muheui's shoulders flinched at his words.
The words "prepare the scales."
In other words.
It meant the Blood Demon, who had been dormant for so long.
Was going to move directly.
"Those words…
[It seems the awaited time has come early.]
Throughout speaking, the Blood Demon's voice was filled with joy.
It was an extremely excited voice, unlike any Muheue had ever heard.
Hearing that voice.
Muheui carefully spoke.
"…What shall we do about the vessel?"
[The vessel, you say.]
If the Blood Demon was going to move directly.
A physical body was needed.
Muheui knew the answer to this question herself.
If the Blood Demon wished to move directly.
There were already many means to do so.
He merely had not wished to.
The moment Muheui tried to rise to find a method.
[The offspring of the Jang family has died.]
Muheui had to stiffen her body at the Blood Demon's words.
Nanggung Cheonjun's issue was one thing, but.
The death of the Jang family's vessel contained many meanings.
Especially for Muheui, who knew the true nature of 'that thing.'
[He seems not yet fully dead. But he will surely come to be so.]
Though not completely dead.
The Blood Demon saying so meant that he would 'again' face death anyway.
Muheui, accepting his words, slowly looked at the Blood Demon and opened her mouth.
"I shall prepare a new physical body. And the memories as well…."
[No, there is no need for that.]
Muheui looked at him with a strange expression at the Blood Demon's refusal.
Why would he refuse?
The being called Jang Seonyeon was still a person needed for the Blood Demon's purpose.
That was why they had kept him even through hardship.
How could he say such words?
While Muheui was looking at the Blood Demon with such an expression.
[I have retrieved the soul and memories. But there is no need to place the memories back into the frame.]
As if resolving Muheui's question.
[For I shall enter within it.]
The Blood Demon gave the answer.