“How is your body?”
“…”
Namgung Bia gave no answer to the words she heard.
She merely watched the young man in silence.
“I’m only saying this in case you’re worried.”
The young man pointed at Namgung Bia’s waist with his hand.
“I wasn’t the one who treated you. I had another woman do it, so you don’t need to worry—”
“I’m not worried.”
“…I see.”
At Namgung Bia’s decisive answer, the young man gave an awkward smile.
“I’ll ask again. How is your body?”
“…”
Namgung Bia did not answer the young man’s question this time either.
She merely showed him the shackles bound around her hands.
Clank.
The chains fastened around her wrists rattled.
When the young man looked at them, Namgung Bia spoke to him.
“Unlock them.”
“Haha.”
He could only laugh, as though dumbfounded by her words.
Who would have thought she would say it so boldly?
“If I could do that, I would have unlocked them already.”
“Then unlock them now.”
“Sword Dance Maiden, I’m saying this because I can’t.”
“…Why?”
“…”
Why?
For a moment, he was rendered speechless.
How was he supposed to answer that?
Looking at the woman who asked with an expression that seemed to say she truly did not understand, the young man forced a bitter smile.
“Because this is the only way to keep you from dying.”
The words he offered as an answer instead circled back and tore the young man’s heart to shreds.
They were wretched words, through and through.
“Don’t even think about escaping. Those shackles aren’t something you can easily break free from.”
“…”
At his words, Namgung Bia’s expression changed ever so slightly.
She had already been secretly applying force to the shackles.
And now she understood.
‘My inner energy…’
Perhaps because of the shackles, her energy was not moving properly. Had he noticed what she was doing?
“Your internal injuries probably haven’t completely healed either, so just rest for now.”
The young man said it in an even tone.
“…”
Upon hearing that, Namgung Bia secretly released the force she had been applying.
Afterward, Namgung Bia turned her gaze away and looked around.
Vmmm—!
The Noea, which continued to vibrate, bothered her, but for now, examining her surroundings took priority.
It was too dark to see properly, but it did not feel like an ordinary jade prison.
Sensing something brush past the tip of her nose, Namgung Bia spoke to the young man.
“A formation?”
“That’s right.”
A formation had been laid over the space.
She could tell that much, but she could not properly determine the situation.
Had the space been distorted?
With her energy blocked by the shackles, it was even more difficult to tell.
In other words, there was nothing she could do for the time being.
“Hmm…”
Having grasped that much, Namgung Bia abruptly shifted her position and lay down.
“Huh?”
The young man let out a hollow breath when he saw that.
He was utterly dumbfounded.
Namgung Bia had simply lain down.
As though she intended to rest in this situation, she had assumed the most comfortable position in the world.
“…What are you doing?”
When the young man asked, Namgung Bia merely turned her head toward him.
“…I’m going to sleep.”
“In this situation…?”
“…You said you…weren’t going to unlock them.”
“That’s true, but…”
How could she be so shamelessly bold?
He had never expected such a sight. She had lain down without the slightest hesitation.
Seeing it only made his heart ache more.
So he could not help but ask.
“Why…aren’t you asking?”
Why was she not asking? He could only ask her that.
Upon hearing his question, Namgung Bia quietly looked at the young man.
A somewhat uncomfortable silence passed between them.
She knew what he was asking.
Why did it have to come to this?
Why had he created such a situation?
That was what he was asking when he wondered how she could not ask.
“Because…I already asked.”
She had already asked him the last time they met, before she lost consciousness.
She remembered his answer from then as well.
“You said there was something you had to protect.”
“…”
There was something he had to protect.
Just as you do.
I also had something I had to protect, so this was something I had to do.
That was the conversation they had shared.
“Other than that…what else is there?”
“…Nothing.”
It was the most he could bring himself to say, within the limits of what he could speak aloud.
That was the best he could do.
But to the person hearing it, it was merely a frustrating answer.
Namgung Bia knew that all too well, yet she did not ask anything more.
The young man simply could not understand it.
“Do you not resent me?”
The young man had targeted Namgung Bia as she fled.
He had deployed troops to block her escape route.
He had sent a Great General at the Transcendent Realm and dozens of soldiers to inflict external and internal injuries upon her.
Was that something he had truly needed to do as well?
The young man could not convince himself of it.
If he said he had to do it, that would be an excuse.
If he said he had done it despite knowing he should not have, that would be a pretext.
He had been the one to save Namgung Bia in the end, but even that had merely been self-satisfaction born of his inability to bear his guilt.
When asked that question, Namgung Bia answered.
“…Not particularly?”
She said she did not think much of it.
How could she not resent him?
Just as that question was about to arise in his mind—
“You chose to do it.”
Namgung Bia spoke in a calm voice.
“I think…you must have had a reason.”
“…”
Her words were filled with unwavering trust.
At that, the young man had to wipe the bitter smile from his face.
He could not even afford to smile anymore.
“You’re that person’s friend, after all.”
Her words became a sword and pierced U Hyeok’s heart.
No. He had decided not to call himself U Hyeok anymore.
Those memories had to be left somewhere far away.
Only then could he live in the present.
“Haha… Is that really the only reason you trust me?”
“Do you need another?”
“Under ordinary circumstances, I’d need far more than that.”
Yes, far more. There should have been countless reasons for something like this.
But—
For you, just that one reason is enough. That was what she meant.
Along with his words, the young man erased the face of his friend that had risen in his mind.
“Sword Dance Maiden.”
“Yes.”
“Even now…do you think that friend of mine would still consider me a friend?”
“I don’t know.”
How could she know that?
That was the feeling contained in her answer.
Of course, the young man thought otherwise.
When his friend learned what had happened—
What kind of expression would that friend look at him with?
It was not something he wanted to imagine.
Whoosh.
A chill blew between them.
“…Then…what about you?”
Namgung Bia asked the young man.
“What do you think?”
“…”
What about him?
Did he still consider that man his friend?
‘Who knows.’
The young man could not answer.
If he had considered him a friend, could he have done something like this?
He did not know.
By now, even thinking about it—
Even looking back at the road he had traveled—
It was all far too late.
Creak.
The young man rose from the chair he had been sitting in.
He gave no answer to her question.
“I’ll be going now.”
“…”
Namgung Bia did not seem to expect an answer either.
The young man turned and headed toward the door.
As she quietly watched his back, Namgung Bia suddenly spoke.
“…Even so.”
At the sound of her voice—
“When you…meet that person, apologize.”
The young man’s body stiffened at Namgung Bia’s words.
Her tone was filled with firm, cold emotion.
She had been indifferent to her own situation and suffering, but this was different.
“He’ll be in a lot of pain.”
“…He will? That friend of yours?”
“He’s a delicate person.”
Delicate?
It was the word that suited his friend the least.
To the young man, that friend was the kind of person who would remain standing even if the entire world collapsed around him.
“If you make him cry, I won’t forgive you.”
“…”
Was that really something one should say in a situation like this?
The thought crossed his mind, but the young man did not bother arguing.
He did not even have the right to do so.
“…All right. If I ever meet him again, I’ll be sure to apologize.”
He would be in the Central Plains by now.
If he ever heard the news later, and that friend came to the Northern Sea—
‘I’ll already be gone.’
He would no longer be on this earth.
That moment would come.
It had to.
‘It would be nice if an apology paid with my life could be accepted.’
Perhaps apologizing with his life would at least be of some small help.
Such a pointless thought occurred to him.
Creak.
The young man grasped the doorknob, opened the door, and stepped outside.
As he walked out of the room, he erased the thoughts in his mind.
There was only one thing that needed to fill the young man’s mind now.
[Cheonga! Cheonga!]
A distant past.
The time when the young man was called by another name, not U Hyeok.
A memory from what had been the happiest period of his life.
A white-haired girl came to mind, running toward the young man and calling brightly for him to come play.
[Let’s play!]
As though she did not care in the slightest about the boy’s circumstances—
The girl had smiled and come looking for him.
It was nothing more than an ordinary memory.
Days that were nothing special, days that would have been an ordinary part of life for someone else.
A memory he had to carry alone.
That was all it was.
On the day the boy left the Northern Sea for the Central Plains, he remembered what he had said to the girl.
[If, just if… I survive and can see you again.]
Even as an arrow pierced his back and blood poured from the wound, the boy spoke to the crying girl.
[Then—]
The emerging memory stopped there and scattered like mist.
The young man had deliberately shaken his head and erased it.
There was no need to recall any more.
Even this was an excuse.
An excuse no one would understand.
The young man began walking again.
Thud.
The sound of his footsteps echoed through the passageway.
Not a single lamp was lit in the dark corridor.
*************
A full moon hung in the dark sky.
The surroundings were dark, making it unmistakably clear that night had fallen.
Snow had been falling relentlessly, enough to drive anyone mad.
“Is this place seriously insane?”
Cursing, I pushed through the blizzard.
Did this insane weather have no intention of calming down?
The more I saw of it, the more I detested it.
What kind of land was this?
It was utterly absurd.
They said snow fell in the Northern Sea throughout all four seasons.
When the Blood Demon had brought about the Blood Calamity, some incident had apparently occurred within the Northern Sea itself, changing the environment into this.
When I had only heard about it, I had merely thought, ‘So that’s how it is.’
But now that I had come here myself, I found it even more fucking awful.
“How can people possibly live here?”
The cold never stopped, and snow fell at all hours of the day, so farming was obviously impossible.
Then what kind of food could they obtain in this environment…? In the end, hunting was probably the only option.
It seemed they had no choice but to catch something and eat it.
But how many animals could possibly survive in this cold?
The fact that they had managed to survive even in these circumstances meant they must have some way of doing so.
Whatever it was, it did not change the fact that this was a godforsaken land.
Whoosh—!
The blizzard still made it impossible to see even a step ahead.
I wondered how I was supposed to find my way in such an environment, but in truth, it did not matter where I looked.
Vmmm—!
I only had to follow the vibration I felt in my heart.
I adjusted the tips of my feet as I moved.
‘North from here.’
I changed my course.
Toward the direction where I sensed the energy.
Of course, no matter how far I went, all I could still see was the blizzard.
Looking at it, I said,
“This really is a fucking miserable land.”
Did people really live on land like this? It was enough to make my blood boil.
I ground my teeth and continued cursing when—
“Ahem…”
An uncomfortable cough came from behind me.
“E-even so… It’s a bit much to curse like that in front of someone who lives here…”
“What, do you have a problem with it?”
“…No, sir.”
When I was about to fire off another remark, the woman fell silent in a dejected voice.
Of course she had nothing to say.
If she said the wrong thing here, I would abandon her and leave.
After hearing the woman’s reply, I looked straight ahead again.
“Really, what rotten luck.”
As though the situation itself were not already unpleasant enough—
“In weather this fucking awful, I even have to carry around a heavy burden like you.”
“H-heavy burden?”
The woman’s voice rose, apparently offended.
“Then what else would you call yourself?”
“…I’m not heavy.”
At least she did not deny being a burden.
“You’re not heavy? Have you no conscience? Then again, if you had one, you wouldn’t have followed me here.”
“No…!”
“Ah, be quiet. Say one more word and I’ll leave you behind.”
“…”
Only after I warned her did she finally fall silent.
Haa.
I sighed and continued walking.
Along the road that still seemed to stretch endlessly—
I was traveling with Yuri, the Second Young Lady of the Northern Sea.
Carrying her on my back, no less.