〈 Chapter 624 〉 Authority.
Chirp! Chirp!
Birdsong grazed my ears.
The sunlight shone warmly.
The wind seemed to embody the season; the cool breeze was faintly crisp.
Leaves brimming with vitality were beautifully colored, as if welcoming the coming autumn.
A sight that made one’s heart race merely by beholding it.
Beautiful.
Truly a beautiful place.
Had I been walking here alone, I might have stopped unknowingly to take in the scenery.
It was such a beautiful place, and yet.
‘What is this place?’
I couldn’t simply admire the scenery with a joyful heart.
Clearly, until just moments ago, the world had been filled with nothing but the sound of burning embers.
Why had it changed into such a world?
And yet.
‘Why?’
My eyes trembled as I looked around.
It was a place I had never seen before.
No, I had traveled to many places, so I might have passed by somewhere without realizing.
Even so.
‘Why is it familiar?’
It couldn’t be this familiar.
A feeling as if I had been here once before; longing and sorrowful.
An indescribable emotion surged through me.
‘What on earth is this place?’
Why did I feel this way?
It was clearly my first time seeing it, yet strangeness and longing coexisted.
It was a sensation I had never felt in my life.
Tak—!
I barely came to my senses at the sound of a turning water wheel.
And then I looked straight ahead.
What I should be focusing on now was not the scenery, but the person.
‘Mumyeong?’
Nameless.
The woman had introduced herself as such.
Recalling this, I examined the woman. However.
‘I can’t see her.’
Still, the woman’s appearance could not be perceived.
Blurred.
Her presence was so distinct, yet for some reason, she could not be properly recognized.
It felt as if my mind was refusing to acknowledge her.
‘What is she?’
I knew I had many things inside my body.
But Noya and that Kkeureung fellow were away at the moment.
So, at best, there were only two beings I could recall.
Since it wasn’t the Blood Qi.
‘If it isn’t the Divine Sword either.’
Then what on earth was that?
I didn’t know.
Then.
Huhu.
I heard the woman’s laughter.
“The same expression as ever.”
“What…?”
“The expression you always wore when deep in thought. I can’t help but feel nostalgic.”
At the words laced with laughter, I had to frown.
Because she spoke as if she knew me well.
I moved my hand slightly.
Hwarreuk—!
For an instant, flames seemed to gather, only for—
Hwak—!
The flames to vanish immediately.
‘I’m going mad.’
This was definitely my mental space.
I couldn’t use power as I pleased? What kind of absurd situation was this?
“Who are you, and what on earth is this place?”
So I asked first.
Hearing my question, the woman slightly turned her head and looked around.
“What do you think?”
Then she asked me in return.
“…What do you mean?”
“Do you think it’s pretty?”
“…”
I gave no answer.
Because I thought it absurd to even answer this.
But.
“It’s probably beautiful. Because it was the place you liked the most.”
As if my answer didn’t matter, the woman continued.
“It was a place where the colors grew especially deep when autumn came. It was also good for living, because the surroundings were plentiful.”
She plucked a falling maple leaf and placed it into the hands of the frightened child in her arms.
Though the child still wore a terrified expression, he didn’t refuse the leaf.
“So I came here many times. I watched you endlessly as you sat here quietly looking up at the sky. This place holds such memories.”
“…What on earth are you talking about, so out of the blue?”
It was full of incomprehensible tales.
Not only had I never known such a dwelling, I had never been to such a place.
“Should I call this a memory? Or an obsession? What do you think?”
“…”
“No, you don’t have to answer.”
The woman laughed.
“If it were you, you would have called it an obsession without hesitation. Because you are that kind of person.”
For some reason, that laugh made my heart ache.
It stung. And it was cold.
And heavy, too.
That was how I felt looking at the woman.
That was why.
There was so much I wanted to ask, yet I couldn’t ask anything. The reason was surely that.
[Huuu….]
The child in her arms curled up.
Seeing this, the woman carefully stroked the child.
“It’s alright. It’s okay.”
[Haaah… Mama….]
“…”
At the word “Mama,” the woman flinched for a moment.
But she didn’t stop her caressing hand.
Seeing this, I realized once more.
This was no time to be hesitating.
I approached the woman and said.
“Hand that over.”
“If I hand it over, what do you intend to do?”
“I have to kill it.”
Even at the words I spat out without hesitation, the woman’s expression didn’t change.
“Why?”
She simply asked. I answered her.
“Because it must be done.”
Something that must be done.
Yes, this was something that must be done.
Within my somehow hazy mind, that alone was clear.
“…Something that must be done…”
At my words, the woman nodded.
“Yes, it must be done.”
“So. Bring that thing here—”
“But I can’t.”
My face contorted at those words.
“What?”
“I’m sorry, but I cannot give you this child.”
“What kind of crazy nonsense is that?”
I was saying I would take my own thing. What was she talking about?
Looking at the woman with a dumbfounded expression,
the woman began to exert more strength into the hand holding the child.
“As I said before, I wished you wouldn’t make this choice.”
Kkwak.
The child, too, wrapped around the woman’s arm as if unwilling to let go.
“Furthermore, I feel sorry. Because though I said I didn’t want you to choose, it was also I who pushed you into this situation.”
My eyes widened at the words.
She pushed me?
“What does that mean? You pushed me?”
“…”
Tak.
Amidst the incomprehensible words, the sound of a water wheel echoed.
That was the turning point.
“The fact that you had no choice but to travel back through time.”
Something began to resonate at the woman’s words.
“And the fact that I ultimately made you become the wretched thing called a Dragon, so you could endure this rough flow.”
Cracks formed in my steady breathing.
“And so, making you bear such a heavy burden on your back. In the end… it was all me.”
My trembling breath made it difficult to even speak.
What had I just heard?
‘What on earth are those words?’
That woman made me regress?
That couldn’t be.
And that was because… the one who made me regress was—
‘Cheonma.’
The Divine Sword had said so.
And Cheonma had affirmed it as well.
The one who made me regress was Cheonma. Not that woman….
‘…Huh?’
While thinking,
I felt something strange.
Because the blurry figure had become somewhat clearer.
The moment I met the woman’s eyes, I felt as if I knew something.
“Don’t tell me, you’re Cheon—”
Zzirit—!
“…!”
At the sudden pain, one of my knees buckled.
I had to clutch my head and tremble violently.
It wasn’t pain felt physically.
It was pain coming from the soul itself.
This was a warning.
A warning that if I recalled, my soul would shatter.
“Heok… heok….”
Barely enduring with ragged breaths,
the woman before me merely continued looking at me.
I couldn’t see her expression.
When she laughed, I could somewhat tell, but now I couldn’t know what expression she wore.
However.
“Even in countless lives, the life you desired was ultimately an ordinary one.”
Though I couldn’t see her expression, I could tell her voice was steeped in sorrow.
“That’s why. I didn’t want you to live such a life. So whenever you tried to choose something, I gave you hesitation.”
The more she spoke, the more my head grew muddled.
“I delayed your choices. There were times I covered your eyes so you couldn’t find your bearings.”
At her words, spoken like a confession, I recalled.
Myself who always hesitated despite saying I would stop at nothing.
Myself who, despite having already become a Dragon, still longed for humanity.
Had all of that been this woman’s doing?
“I still remember.”
The woman spoke to me.
“The smile you made when you first built this house.”
This, too, was something I didn’t know.
“Perhaps that’s why. I still remain here. Probably…”
I shall remain here forever.
It was a word the woman quietly whispered.
“So, please, I wish you never knew until the very end.”
I heard her voice.
But I couldn’t answer.
‘My voice…!’
No sound came out.
My body was stiff as a board and couldn’t move.
Bbajijijik—!
I tried to move forcibly, but something seemed to be pressing down on me; I couldn’t move at all.
“Oblivion is the best I can give you.”
Bbajik—! Bbajijijik—!
Strange sounds came from my arm where I strained.
I knew.
That if I forced my strength, I would be crushed on the spot.
The pain went not to the flesh, but to the soul.
It was severe.
To the point where I wondered if such pain could even exist.
“So, even if someday you come to know everything.”
I barely raised my head to look at the woman.
“Even at that end, I hope you don’t remember me. That is my only wish.”
I didn’t understand what she was saying.
Not only were the words incomprehensible, but I didn’t even know what that woman was, to appear inside me.
Pajijijik—!
Whenever I tried to think of something, it was blocked not just in my body, but in my mind.
“Heo… heok…!”
“Don’t worry. This child… I will hold in my arms and hide from you. To the awakened you, it will be no different from nonexistent.”
As she spoke, the woman rose.
Jjeojeok—!
As the woman rose, cracks began to spread across the sky.
Instinctively, I knew.
That once this moment passed, my body would awaken.
“If by any chance a miracle occurs and you recall me. Would you resent me? If so, I would be glad.”
The woman let out a shallow laugh.
“To resent means. To remember. That alone is enough for me.”
She moved.
The woman who had spoken slowly moved her steps.
Jjeojeojeok.
Not only the sky, but cracks also formed at her feet.
Holding the child, the woman passed by my side.
I had to grab her.
I had to snatch the child she held, and ask the woman’s identity, but.
Pajijijik—!
The sensation binding my body grew stronger.
“You…!”
I gritted my teeth.
I couldn’t let her go like this.
With that single thought, I raised my body.
Udeudeuk—!
My body crumbled.
Ignoring the pain, I spoke to the woman.
“…Don’t… go.”
A voice that hadn’t come out finally emerged.
Even while uttering the sound, the pain remained.
It didn’t matter. Such things weren’t important.
She flinched.
At my words, the woman stopped her steps.
Seeing that, I recalled.
With what intention had I told her not to go?
Did I mean for her to leave the child behind?
Or did I mean to reveal her identity before leaving?
I didn’t know.
Body and mind alike, with movements that seemed to force me to forget, I had no presence of mind.
Even so, I felt I somehow had to hold onto her.
It was solely that kind of emotion.
“…I said… don’t go.”
When I spat it out once more, the woman’s head turned this way.
Still, I couldn’t see.
I couldn’t make out the hidden face of the woman.
However.
“Haha… ha….”
The woman let out a laugh.
It was a laugh I had been hearing all along, yet somehow different.
“…You are always too much.”
As if revealing the emotions she had held back, her voice was full of tears.
“You leave me another unforgettable moment. And yet, you will forget again.”
I could feel weak resentment.
It was an emotion I hadn’t felt until now.
“…Thank you. For giving me one more pillar to lean on.”
Saying so, the woman slightly waved her hand toward me.
“…Go back now. This is no longer a place for you.”
Sarak.
Then cracks also formed in the floor directly beneath me.
Seeing this, I urgently tried to continue speaking, but.
“Wai—!”
Kuuuung—!
“Kkeuk—!”
The pressure intensified.
As if to show she would tolerate no more.
“I will embrace your hesitation. So you need not hesitate any longer.”
With stuttering lips I tried to say something, but.
Now I couldn’t even do that.
“Thank you for indulging my selfishness.”
At the woman’s words.
Cheolgeok—!
A sensation like a lock opening brushed past.
At that moment.
Huuuuuuk—!!
Unknown energies began to surge through my body.
No, it was closer to a sensation than energy.
Breaking down the walls that had been blocked.
The things hidden beyond rushed in.
My hand was torn by the force, bringing pain, but.
Still, I reached out. To grab the woman looking at me beyond the cracks.
But.
“Always.”
In the end, I couldn’t grab her.
“The wind is merely that.”
Kwak—!
In the end, swallowed by the crack, my flesh disappeared from the space.
Huaaaah.
The traces filling the background were also erased, changing into a world where only ashes and embers remained.
Tak—! Tak—!
The sound of something burning could be heard.
The dark world had returned.
In such a world.
“…”
The woman stood still, looking at the place where the owner of the space had been.
Was it because she had seen him after so long?
She felt she had spoken too much without realizing.
Because of that.
The woman looked at her own hand.
Tak—.
As the world burned, the woman’s hand was also crumbling away.
“Even so.”
I was happy, even if only for a moment.
The woman thought so and smiled.
[Huu….]
A quiet breathing sound came from her arms.
The child she held had fallen asleep at some point.
Looking at the child’s face, the woman stroked him with her hand.
And she recalled the lie she had uttered.
“The wind is merely that.”
“…”
The words she had just spoken.
That was a lie. To be exact, half of it was.
The wind was not merely that.
She wished for his happiness, but the woman’s wish was not only that.
The woman had a hidden wish.
‘…Just once.’
Just once would be fine.
‘To be called by name.’
At some point in the very distant past.
The name he had given her.
That he would call her by it, just once.
The woman harbored such a wish.
“…Ha.”
Recalling this, the woman sneered and immediately erased the thought.
Truly a shabby and cowardly wish.
Having made such a choice herself.
After lingering for a moment, the woman moved her steps before long.
Probably, contrary to the woman’s wish.
The day she would ever be called by name by him would never come.
Therefore, the woman’s name was Mumyeong.
******************
Huuuuuuk—!!!
The Palace Lord couldn’t hide her confusion at the unfolding situation.
Not only had the Ice Spirit Orb begun to emit light.
All the cold energy in the space was moving.
Deodeodeodeuk—!
The energy was so fierce that even the Palace Lord had to exert strength merely to endure.
‘What in the—!’
It was a sudden situation.
Had some unforeseen event occurred?
Otherwise, there was no way it could be this chaotic.
Huuuuuuuk—!!!
Like a raging typhoon, the cold energy rotated endlessly.
Even within that, she could feel it.
Huuk—!
“…What…!”
Between the movements of the cold energy, the Palace Lord’s own energy seemed about to be sucked out.
As if swept away by the flow, the energy she possessed tried to move.
The Palace Lord forcibly pulled her energy back.
Only then could she endure.
It was an absurd occurrence.
‘Could it be…!’
The Palace Lord’s gaze went to the center of the cold energy.
She looked at Gu Yangcheon, who had his eyes closed.
Though she had thought it impossible.
The cold energy in the space was truly being drawn toward Gu Yangcheon.
Even her own energy.
‘At this rate…!’
Or.
‘Could he even absorb the energy of the Ice Spirit Orb?’
The Ice Spirit Orb shining before her.
Would Gu Yangcheon absorb even the energy within it?
If that were to happen.
‘What would happen?’
The Ice Spirit Orb before her was an object that created the extreme cold of the North Sea.
Because of this, the North Sea became a land of extreme cold where snow fell all year round.
If such an Ice Spirit Orb were to disappear like this.
What on earth would happen?
For an instant, such a thought crossed her mind.
But that thought didn’t last long.
Huuuuuuk—!!!
The cold energy that had been raging fiercely.
Huuuuuk.
Gradually slowed its speed, showing slower movements, then.
Huk—!
In an instant, the raging wind stopped.
It was a split second.
The fluttering dao robe settled.
The situation became as quiet as if a typhoon had never blown.
In this situation, before the Palace Lord could even grasp the situation.
Seuu.
“…Huh!”
At a sensation suddenly felt, the Palace Lord unknowingly put distance between them.
From none other than Gu Yangcheon.
‘What is this?’
Keeping her distance, the Palace Lord examined Gu Yangcheon.
Something was strange.
It had been at most ten seconds since Gu Yangcheon closed his eyes.
The Palace Lord intuited that something had changed in that brief moment.
She had no choice.
Guuuuuuu—!
The air had changed.
The space that had been merely cold and chilly.
Now, somehow, felt heavy and eerie.
What was this sensation?
Just as the Palace Lord was about to raise her guard and harbor doubts.
Seuuuk.
A slight movement was seen from Gu Yangcheon, who had been standing still.
“…Ah….”
A short exhalation.
Gu Yangcheon briefly looked around, then slowly turned his head and sent his gaze toward the Palace Lord.
“…!”
Once she confirmed Gu Yangcheon’s face, the Palace Lord flinched as if surprised.
His appearance wasn’t greatly different, but somehow the atmosphere had changed.
Along with the blue eyes that had become much clearer than before.
There was also a somehow heavy and deep atmosphere, but.
The reason the Palace Lord was surprised was not simply because of that.
The reason being.
“…Young Master Gu.”
Gu Yangcheon, looking at the Palace Lord.
“Why… are you crying?”
For some reason, he had been shedding tears.