〈 Episode 614 〉 Bi-oegun.
Sway-!
I feel dizzy and my body staggers.
I barely kept my balance so I wouldn't fall.
"Huu..."
My breathing was ragged.
I had to do my best to steady it.
That wasn't all.
Thump-!
A sensation comes from my heart.
I tensed up. I had to brace myself for the impending recoil.
Kuuung-!
"Keugh...!"
Sure enough, I groaned at the vibration I felt.
It felt like I would collapse at any moment, but I somehow endured it.
I couldn't collapse here.
"Huuu... Huuu...!"
My already exhausted body is heavily weighed down as it braces against the pain.
My body felt lethargic, as if something massive had left it, and I also felt a sense of emptiness.
I felt it last time too, but it's truly a miserable feeling.
Feeling this, I carefully checked my body's condition.
How much pain there was. Whether I could move after using it.
Even in my exhaustion, I tried hard to remember each detail.
Clenching my fists, I thought.
'The recoil is too much.'
It was the same last time. The recoil after using it was no joke.
Pain is something I just have to endure, but...
'It takes a toll on my body.'
I wonder if this is what Pae-jon said, that it strains the soul.
Or if it literally means my body can't support it, I don't know, but it was certain that using it consecutively would be difficult.
Of course, regardless of that.
'...In the end, the fact that I can use it is what matters.'
While catching my breath, I raised my head and looked ahead.
Where an unidentifiable barrier had hung just a moment ago, it was now shattered and broken, creating a massive entrance.
Hwarreuk-!
Blue flames clung to the edges and flickered.
It was the aftermath created by the Heart Fist.
It was much weaker destructive power than when I shattered the iceberg last time, but even this alone made it clear that it was a tremendous power.
Barely straightening my upper body, I assessed it.
'At most, three times.'
If my body and mind were in perfect condition.
I felt like I could use it three times at the same level as just now.
At the level of when I first used it... I'd probably collapse after using it once.
'The method of using it isn't that difficult either.'
Maybe it's because I've used it once.
Or maybe there's something else to it, I don't know, but.
Fortunately, using the Heart Fist wasn't very difficult.
If I intend to use it, I can.
I just have to deal with the aftermath.
"W-What is this..."
Yuri seemed unable to understand the situation that had just occurred.
That there really was a barrier, just as I said.
And the power I shot out to break it. From Yuri's perspective, it must have been bizarre.
"Let's go."
Naturally, I had nothing to say while watching this.
I just walked forward, hiding the recoil.
"Ah...! Wait...!"
As I walked towards the breached entrance, Yuri then followed me in.
The inside wasn't much different from the outside.
It was still clearly a snowfield.
And it was a night where a blizzard steadily fell. Amidst that, if there was one distinctly different thing.
'A garden?'
Unlike the outside, this place seemed like an artificially created garden.
However, it looked like it hadn't been maintained for a very long time.
Uuuung--!!
I turned my head at the energy I felt.
It's not far.
It felt much closer than when it was beyond the barrier.
The barrier that had been draped around this area.
It seemed that while it couldn't completely block the vibration, it did reduce it.
It's over there.
You are over there.
Just as I was about to move, recalling that.
"...Huh...?"
I briefly looked back at the voice coming from behind.
Because Yuri, who had followed behind, was looking around with a surprised expression.
"This place..."
"Why? Do you know this place?"
"H-How..."
Yuri kept looking around as if she couldn't believe it.
Judging by her reaction, it seemed like a place she knew.
"No way..."
"What do you mean 'no way'?"
"This place shouldn't still exist... I heard it disappeared a long time ago?"
Wondering what she meant, I looked at Yuri.
"...This is the residence where the Bi-oegun stayed."
"What?"
Hearing that, I looked around.
It was a place buried in snow, unable to properly serve its role as a garden.
Calling it a garden was generous; it was already in a shape hard to refer to as such.
And this is the place where that bastard Woo-hyuk stayed?
"It's already... been over ten years. I heard the Blue Wolf side had already erased it. How on earth..."
"They might have just left it without clearing it out."
"That can't be. I've been here several times..."
"Hmm."
Several times, she says.
In other words, it means she hadn't discovered it all this time.
What could be the meaning of being able to see this now?
Furthermore.
'Uncomfortable yet familiar, huh.'
The barrier I just broke through.
It felt somewhat uncomfortable yet familiar.
Meanwhile, Yuri kept looking around, wondering if what she was seeing was real.
"...Then is this the main house of the Blue Wolf? No, it definitely wasn't in a location for that...?"
The Blue Wolf, which raised a rebellion against the Ice Palace and started a war.
If the place where Woo-hyuk lived was here, it meant the main house of the Blue Wolf was around here.
Yuri reacted as if that wasn't the case either.
'There's a chance I didn't grasp the geography properly because I moved only by sensing the energy, but.'
That wouldn't be the only reason.
I thought so.
'Whatever the case, what's important right now is that this is where Woo-hyuk lived.'
Setting aside how a place that disappeared in the past remained like this.
Ultimately, it meant this place was connected to Woo-hyuk.
The fact that Noe-a's vibration was felt here meant...
'Namgung Bi-a's disappearance is related to Woo-hyuk.'
It would be right to judge it that way.
Hoo-!
I exhaled energy.
It was to spread my energy sense wide.
As the energy grazed my blood vessels, pain arrived, making my face frown involuntarily.
It was the aftermath of the recoil.
'Seriously, my body never gets a break.'
Just when I'm about to heal, an accident happens.
Just when I'm barely getting better, something comes up; it was truly a shitty situation.
Uuuung---!!
Energy spread out and enveloped the surroundings.
My energy sense spread much shallower than usual, but this was enough.
It meant there was no shortage for examining the surroundings.
But.
'What is this.'
As my energy sense spread, a question arose.
'Nothing.'
I couldn't feel anything in my energy sense.
'Can there really be nothing at all, even if there's no one?'
It's not like I sneaked in carefully.
I broke everything and came in openly.
If there were people inside, something should have popped out.
I really couldn't feel any presence of people at all.
Are there no other people here?
All I could see right now was what used to be a garden and the snow piled on top of it.
A situation where not a single trace of a person was visible.
Would Namgung Bi-a's traces really be in a place like this?
Just as such doubts crossed my mind.
Tap-!
"...!"
At the edge of my gradually spreading energy sense.
Crunch.
Something was caught far away.
"...Man."
I felt the presence of the most familiar person among those I've sensed recently.
'I hoped it wouldn't be him, if possible.'
It was also the presence I least wanted to feel.
Crunch.
Listening to the footsteps gradually drawing closer, I quietly stared straight ahead.
He was coming from beyond there.
How long had I waited?
It probably wasn't that long, but it felt like a very long time.
Like that.
Crunch.
The steps that walked lightly, stepping on the snow.
Halt.
Stopped moving only after taking a few more steps.
I stared at the figure who appeared with an expressionless face.
"Oh my."
The other person looked at me and smiled as if in trouble.
"...This is quite a problematic situation."
The young man untied his hands from behind his back and scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
It had been a few years, but he still had that handsome face. Annoyingly so.
"I thought it was strange how it suddenly became quiet."
However, while his appearance was definitely the same.
"Why are you here..."
His aura was quite different from back then.
The somewhat relaxed and soft atmosphere was gone. A chill similar to the weather lingered around the young man.
"Am I perhaps dreaming?"
The young man, Woo-hyuk, said with a smile.
"Bi-oegun...!"
Yuri, seeing Woo-hyuk suddenly appear, was startled and trembled.
She then took a step forward and tried to speak to him.
"You...!"
"Long time no see."
"...!"
Woo-hyuk didn't even look at Yuri.
It was a reaction as if he had absolutely no interest.
"I see."
That reaction was rather alien to me.
"I heard there was an anomaly. So it was you."
Crunch.
The steps that had dug beneath the snow now crushed the snow and rose above it.
"When did you arrive?"
"About two days. Or has it been three? Something like that?"
I answered the question.
Hearing my words, Woo-hyuk chuckled lightly.
"Not that long, then."
"I came in a bit of a hurry."
"I see."
"..."
"..."
Silence swept by.
We just stared at each other without a word.
'Hmm.'
What should I say?
I had a lot to say when we met.
But now that we've actually met, I didn't particularly have anything to say.
So I just.
"Why did you do it?"
Decided to ask the main point.
"...Haha?"
Woo-hyuk laughed at the question. He seemed to know what my question meant.
"A guy with zero greed. Why did you cause such a huge incident?"
If anything, Woo-hyuk only had an appetite. He was far removed from material greed.
A guy who just lives because he was born.
The Woo-hyuk I saw was that kind of person.
"What are you doing? Did you eat some bad meat or something?"
"..."
That Daoist bastard only ate meat every day.
Did he eventually lose half his mind? I even had such thoughts.
Woo-hyuk answered the question.
"It's possible I developed a lust for power now. You never know with people."
"What kind of bullshit is that? I'm not joking. Answer properly."
It was the same thing I said to the Palace Lord.
I'd listen to his circumstances and then judge.
I asked because I thought that was the priority, but.
"..."
Woo-hyuk wasn't giving me an answer to my question.
Seeing that, I let out a sigh.
"Haa."
Does he not want to answer?
That could be.
If he has circumstances, he might not want to answer.
'Then I guess I'll have to beat him until he does.'
If he's going to keep his mouth shut, I was willing to help him lighten up a bit.
However.
"Alright, I get it."
That's just not right now.
Because right now, I had something more urgent than Woo-hyuk in front of me.
"Forget that for now, just tell me where she is."
"What?"
"She's here, isn't she? Where is she right now?"
Namgung Bi-a is somewhere in this place.
It was a fact that had now turned into conviction.
"I'm taking her back."
Woo-hyuk must have taken Namgung Bi-a.
That's why this situation occurred.
Then it's time to get her back.
I said that with such intentions, but.
Woo-hyuk didn't give an answer and just stared at me quietly.
Seeing that, I added one more thing.
"You know, I..."
Cooling my rising emotions, I said to Woo-hyuk.
"Whatever you're trying to do. Honestly, I don't care."
"..."
"It's absurd that you're suddenly from the North Sea, but that's not the important part."
It's just surprising, not particularly strange. At least, to me it wasn't.
"I wonder why you committed such a troublesome act like rebellion. Well, I'll solve that later."
I didn't say the latter part about beating him and hearing the reason.
Nothing is important.
Whether it's the situation unfolding in the North Sea. Or why Woo-hyuk is doing this.
Nothing was important to me.
"So."
What's important to me right now is.
"Tell me where she is."
Namgung Bi-a, who must be somewhere in this place.
Only that.
If I just find Namgung Bi-a, I have no other business here.
The Palace Lord declared she wouldn't receive treatment.
Regardless of whether it works or not.
If she says she won't, then that's that.
Then I have no business here.
If I just save Namgung Bi-a, I can cut off my interest in this place and return to the Central Plains.
So.
If Woo-hyuk returned Namgung Bi-a to me, it would simply be over.
Yes, it definitely should have been that simple, but.
"Sorry."
Woo-hyuk didn't give me the answer I wanted.
"I don't think I can do that."
"What?"
Shring.
Spitting out the answer, Woo-hyuk drew his sword from his waist.
"I can't return her. I still have some business with her."
"..."
"So go back. This isn't a place for you to be."
Sweeeeesh.
Fighting intent slowly oozed from Woo-hyuk's body.
I could even feel killing intent leaking from the sword he drew.
This meant he was serious.
The pressure was also considerable.
It seemed he hadn't neglected his training over the past few years.
'Did that guy reach Hwagyeong?'
Did he cross the wall, or did he fail? I feel a matching aura, but.
I couldn't tell yet.
Because of my internal injuries, I couldn't properly ascertain it.
"Haa."
Along with another sigh, I swept my hand over my forehead.
What could be happening that the situation has turned out like this?
I don't know.
I don't really know, but.
Looking at the tip of the sword Woo-hyuk drew, various thoughts crossed my mind.
"I was going to hold back until three. But it won't work."
I stopped the number I had been reluctantly counting in my head and said to Woo-hyuk.
"First."
It seems.
"Let's trade a few blows first."
It seemed like a conversation between friends was necessary first.