Thud-! Thud-! Thud-!
As the flames touched my skin, my heart thrashed like mad.
The Guyeomhwaryungong began spinning of its own accord, rampaging as if my qi was running wild.
My blood was hot.
Beyond ragged breaths, I faced the flames.
"Truly a perfect vessel."
What was this flame speaking to me?
I didn't think too hard.
Feeling such resonance meant it was the Guyeomhwaryungong.
Moreover, it was clearly the power of a direct bloodline.
The blazing flame before me was the power of the Guyeomhwaryungong.
The problem was, it was a flame I had never seen before.
Which meant.
'One of the bloodline I do not know.'
That was what it meant.
'Then who could it be?'
This wasn't worth pondering for long either.
Perhaps in the past, I wouldn't have known.
But now, there was one being worth suspecting.
Creak.
I tried to move my body.
Blocked.
An unknown suppressive force held me down.
I tried to open my lips, but it was the same.
My stiffly frozen lips would not open easily.
Oooong.
I put strength into my heart.
Fortunately, I could move my qi.
Screeeeech---!!! I made it spin faster.
I unleashed the bound qi and compressed it even stronger.
Hwarreok.
Gathering the blazing flames into a single point.
Tuk-!
I detonated it just like that.
Kwaaaaah--!!!
Azure flames burst out in all directions through my flesh.
Spinning for a while like that, raising a tempest.
Vast qi filled the surroundings.
Geudeudeuk-!
Using the flames as a focal point, I broke the suppression on my body.
"Huu…."
Thanks to that, my mouth loosened as well.
Perhaps because I had used qi so suddenly, my acupoints and even my joints tingled.
I had to use an enormous amount of qi.
"Hoo."
As I moved my body here and there, a voice tinged with admiration reached me.
"Impressive."
"…"
Frowning deeply, I looked at my opponent and asked.
"First, let me ask."
Spitting out the words, I raised my fighting spirit to the extreme throughout my entire body.
In that state, I asked.
"Are you my grandfather?"
"Hmm."
Was I mistaken?
At my words, the flame seemed to smile.
Since it was composed entirely of flames, its expression couldn't be properly seen.
Yet for some reason, it felt that way.
"Fascinating. Your father shouldn't have told you…. How did you know?"
At the flame's reaction, I couldn't help but click my tongue.
As expected.
It meant that flame was indeed my grandfather.
Hearing this, I let out a hollow breath and spoke.
"How are you alive?"
"Hehe."
Saying to his face why he wasn't dead.
Even I thought it was a rather crude question. But I had to ask.
"A perplexing question."
"I'm the more perplexed one here."
A human-shaped flame suddenly popping out, claiming to be my grandfather who was known to be dead—how could I not be bewildered?
Moreover.
'He had called me a non-human.'
He had looked at me and asked how I became a non-human.
That is to say, he had realized I was not human.
Was that why?
"What?"
A somewhat sharp tone slipped out due to my extremely heightened wariness.
"Why did you seek me out?"
I asked, furrowing my eyes. The flame spoke to me.
"Is it so strange for a grandfather to come find his grandchild?"
He spat out something rather like a proper argument.
Hearing this, I had to burst into a scoff.
"If that's the case, it makes no sense that you haven't appeared until now."
I had never seen him once in my life. Not even in my previous life.
So for him to appear now claiming to be my grandfather, how was I supposed to react?
Moreover.
"With such an aggressive meeting."
"It was merely a sign of welcome."
"Do that welcome twice and you'll kill someone."
"Tsk tsk."
I rolled my eyes at the laughter.
I surveyed the surroundings. Silence still flowed.
Clicking my tongue at that, I looked at the flame again.
'Grandfather.'
The former Family Head of the Gu Family.
I had never heard stories of him, nor did I know what he had been doing.
Perhaps that was why.
Even looking at him, I felt nothing at all.
To me, the word 'grandfather' had always meant Elder Il, so this being who appeared so suddenly felt nothing but distant.
"Child."
The flame asked.
"The years unseen have been long, yet you seem to have grown well; it is good to see."
I furrowed my brows at the praise that popped out abruptly.
I wondered what he was suddenly going on about.
"The flames that bloomed as if showing your efforts are truly beautiful."
It was clearly praise, yet it felt strangely unpleasant.
"The vessel is solid and the flesh is upright, so the next generation need not worry…. However."
The flame's hand gripped my shoulder.
"With such potential, how did you become a non-human? That is my question."
"…"
Tadak.
The hand gripping my shoulder was hot.
Feeling the raging sensation within, I looked at the flame.
It seemed I had missed my chance to dodge the question.
"Life happened, and so it became this way."
Just struggling to survive, I ended up like this.
That was the limit of what I could say.
"Hmm…."
The flame tilted its head hearing my answer.
And spat out words.
"As expected. I should have burned that wench. Impurities have mixed into the precious flame."
Hearing the words, I had to stiffen.
"Wench?"
I could instinctively tell who he meant.
"I should have removed her when I first saw her. It would have been better."
"…"
"What a pity. Though the vessel was so clean, ugly things have mixed in and dulled the light… hmm?"
The flame, continuing its words, tilted its head looking at me.
"Why do you make such eyes?"
What about my eyes made him say that?
I likely didn't look very pleasant.
How could I look good?
"When you speak such utter bullshit. It would be hard to look good, wouldn't it?"
Even if he is my grandfather, how can I look good when he treats someone else's mother as an impurity?
Dduduk.
I loosened my body slightly and spoke to the flame.
"From where I stand, you don't look like a decent person either."
My form of address changed.
Trying to treat him as my grandfather felt completely unsatisfactory.
Not to mention a flesh body surrounded by flames.
No matter how kindly I put it, it wasn't human.
It merely imitated a human 'form.'
To my words, the flame spoke.
"You cannot see me properly purely because you lack the qualification."
"Qualification…?"
Did he mean realm?
Or did it literally mean 'qualification'?
"Because I haven't yet succeeded to the position of family heir?"
I asked directly without beating around the bush.
Then the flame held back a smile.
"Correct."
Unable to succeed to the position, thus unable to see him properly.
Then, if I succeed to the position of family heir, could I see beyond the flame?
I don't know.
Even in my previous life, I had risen to the position of family heir, yet had never seen my grandfather.
So I was even more curious.
"Why have you come?"
Why has this so-called grandfather come to find me now?
"As I said before, a grandfather coming to his grandchild…."
"Stop pretending to be affectionate for no reason and speak properly."
"…"
I cut him off, unable to endure any longer.
It was nauseating.
"There's not a speck of affection in your eyes or voice, so why do you keep up this dog act? Do as you please. It's so uncomfortable I feel like I'm going mad."
"Hoo…."
I spat it out full of annoyance. Then.
"Well…."
The flame's atmosphere changed in an instant.
"Seems this was not the way to do it."
The slight softness in its tone vanished.
Hard and cold.
The emotionlessness I had felt from the Demon King.
Such an atmosphere wafted heavily.
"What a pity. It was a method I had pondered somewhat."
"You don't even seem to have tried to hide it. What nonsense is this."
The look in his eyes was different, and the voice he spat out was different too.
Grandfather?
That word naturally brought Elder Il to mind. When I thought of grandfather, he was the only one I could think of.
I didn't know him well, but at least it wasn't the gaze a 'grandfather' should have when looking at his grandchild.
"What is it? What do you want from me, appearing like this?"
He definitely hadn't come because he missed me.
Then he must have a purpose.
When I asked again about this.
"Because the time has come."
The flame began to spit out the answer, looking at me.
"I know the preparations are complete. The time has passed, and the extra time given to your father has all passed. However."
Hwarreuk.
I felt the surrounding heat grow denser.
"Child. You have not yet received the key."
"…"
Key.
I recalled inwardly at those words.
It seemed to mean the Gu Family's seal that the family heir could receive.
"The time has come, so you must inherit the calling. That is what we must do."
Words that made my chest feel tight just hearing them.
"You came to see me to tell me that?"
To hurry me along, had this old man who pretended to be dead come all this way?
Harboring doubts, I asked.
"No. This is purely because curiosity moved me."
"Curiosity?"
"We who must loathe non-humans more than anyone and keep them at bay—yet you, who must inherit the next calling, have become an ugly existence."
"…Ha."
In the end, he came because I became a dragon?
If so, did becoming a dragon cause a problem in inheriting the calling?
'How did he know in the first place?'
Putting aside that I became a dragon, he must have moved because he noticed I was no longer human.
'Wait….'
As I was pondering thus, a thought flashed by, and I asked the flame.
"…Could it be. The matter that happened to the Family Head as well. Are you related to that?"
Father had said something happened and he couldn't reach Haenam.
Lady Mi had said it involved something only the family heir could know about.
But now my grandfather appears before me?
Could this be a coincidence? I thought not.
So I asked this person called grandfather.
"Correct."
"…!"
The flame affirmed to me.
It meant my expectation was correct.
"Why…. What did you do to the Family Head?"
"It is something done according to reason. Your father is guarding the 'Gate' in my place."
'Gate?'
What gate was he talking about?
"It is something your father should have done long ago, and something you too must do someday."
"…You mean something as trivial as guarding a door?"
"It is the calling for that very purpose—how could I call it trivial?"
A calling to guard the gate.
Was that where the Gu Family's raison d'être that I didn't know about lay?
Something Father knew but I didn't.
This meant it was a truth one could only know upon becoming the Family Head, beyond just being the family heir.
Thinking that, I asked.
"If becoming a non-human is the problem, doesn't that mean I can't do it now?"
Seeing him say ugly and wrong, the problem had arisen because I became a dragon.
If so, wouldn't there be an anomaly in inheriting the calling itself?
Spitting out words with such thought.
"Yes, it is a problem. That is why I came."
The flame continued speaking to me in a composed tone.
"To burn away the impurities and return you to your original state. That is why I came personally."
"…Tch."
Hearing the words, I raised my qi.
Burn away and eliminate.
Did he mean to kill me?
Gguuuk.
I put strength into my heart and glared at the flame.
Hwarreureureuk-!!
Azure flames covered my body.
To match posture at any moment, I raised my fighting spirit throughout my entire body and looked at my opponent.
"However."
The flame continued speaking with hands behind its back.
"I have made a deal with your father, so for now I shall grant extra time."
"What?"
He made a deal with Father?
"What do you-"
The moment I tried to raise my voice and shout at the flame.
Ttak-!
Hwak-!
"…!!"
With the sound of a finger flick, the flames enveloping my body vanished.
Surprised for but a moment.
I tried to ignite flames again.
Chieek-! Chik-!
Only small sparking sounds rang out; the flames wouldn't ignite.
The ring of the Guyeomhwaryungong too was frozen stiff as a dead mouse.
'Why is this suddenly happening?'
I circulated my qi, but the flames wouldn't rise.
I had to be greatly flustered.
Then.
"Therefore, first I shall reclaim the fire seed from you."
My eyes widened at the flame's words.
This meant Grandfather was blocking my use of the Guyeomhwaryungong right now.
How on earth?
As I was trembling my eyes at Grandfather's words.
He had already raised his hand, and in that hand swirled a blue-hued flame.
A familiar energy.
Could that be my flame?
"Today I found you for that purpose. If you wish to reclaim it."
As I was looking at the brightly shining fireball, Grandfather spoke to me.
"Come find me at 'Singang.'"
I had to suck in a hollow breath at those words.
'Singang?'
More than the fact that my flame had disappeared, the following words caught me.
Singang?
'If it's Singang….'
[Go to Singang.]
It was the place mentioned by Namgung Myeong, who had borrowed Uhyeok's body in the North Sea, and also the place where the Demon Cult's main headquarters had been in my previous life.
But for Grandfather to be in Singang too?
What kind of connection was this?
It was a situation too absurd to see as pure coincidence.
"I cannot give you much time. Your father mentioned one year, so I shall take that into account."
Hearing him speak thus, I answered immediately.
"Wait."
As Grandfather tried to end the conversation arbitrarily, I put strength into my legs.
I couldn't just stand still and let him take it.
It was already bizarre that he appeared suddenly, so why was everyone running around doing whatever the hell they wanted?
Kung-!
I tried to exert strength, but still couldn't ignite the flames.
Frowning, I channeled a different qi.
There were things I could do even without flames.
I twisted my waist and put strength into my fist.
'Tuapacheonmu.'
I contained the demonic qi in my flesh and swung directly.
Kwaahang-!
Energy exploded from the tip of my fist and swept the front.
Kwadeudeudeuk-!
"Hm."
Grandfather moved his hand slightly as if reacting to the rough wind pressure.
Hwarreureureuk---!!!!
Flames erupted from the ground and formed a wall.
Kuuu-!
The wind pressure couldn't pierce the wall and subsided.
Seeing that, I swung my fist once more.
This time it wasn't Tuapacheonmu.
'Simgwon.'
I burst forth with qi using all my strength.
Kwak-! The Simgwon poured out and touched the flame-made wall.
Paaang-!!
The wall hit by Simgwon burst, and space was torn open.
"Hmm."
Grandfather let out a short reaction seeing this.
By then, I had already arrived before him.
I immediately snatched the fireball from Grandfather's hand.
Kkwak-!
Crushing the flame as I held it, heat seeped into the depths of my heart.
Hwarreureureuk-!
Only then did flames burst forth again.
"Huuh…."
As expected, that had indeed been my flame.
However, though the flame had returned, I couldn't be relieved.
I didn't know what method he used, but Grandfather seemed able to take it at will.
As I was raising my guard with such judgment.
"Haha."
I heard Grandfather let out a laugh.
"Good."
A chill-!
My whole body broke out in goosebumps at Grandfather's voice.
Dry saliva was swallowed reflexively by the wariness blooming throughout my body.
What was this shitty feeling?
"As expected. You will do."
Spitting out incomprehensible words, Grandfather took a step.
Then.
Shiiiiik-!!!
Kuaaaaang--!!
Something suddenly fell from the empty air between me and Grandfather.
Guuuuuu---!!!
Dense black qi swirled around, displaying an aggressive posture.
I flinched at that enormous energy for a moment.
Soon the energy faded, and a small figure standing before me caught my eye.
A delicate shoulder line and long black hair tinged with purple light.
A figure of small stature blocked Grandfather before me.
Looking at her, I let out a low voice.
"You…."
At my voice, the woman turned her head to look at me.
My eyes met hers—pupils of violet.
Heavenly Demon.
It was she who had blocked Grandfather.