*Grrrip.*
"Keuk..."
Feeling the pressure on his neck, Muk-yeon let out a groan.
His toes were already dangling in the air. He had been lifted up just like that, held by the neck.
Accordingly, he felt a suffocating sensation and pain, but a far greater problem than that was the sense of helplessness and fear.
He truly could do nothing. The only thing he could barely manage was to exhale the surging groan as a breath.
"Heu... keuk..."
The room was cold.
As if to indicate that autumn had reached its peak, it had felt cold even with the fire lit. But now, it did not.
Something beaded up on his forehead. Muk-yeon quickly realized it was sweat.
It was hot. The cold air was nowhere to be found, replaced entirely by heat. He could even feel the temperature steadily rising.
Muk-yeon lowered his gaze to look at something.
It was the figure who was raising the room's temperature and gripping his neck. Muk-yeon, whose internal energy was close to that of an ordinary person, found it difficult to identify his opponent in the darkness, but even so, he could see vivid red eyes within it.
Eyes that seemed to be burning. That alone was enough to confirm who the opponent was.
"Muk-yeon."
A heavy voice pierced Muk-yeon's ears.
"I will ask again."
It was a calm tone with no rise or fall. However, Muk-yeon could feel a viscous anger within it. Rage. The opponent was barely suppressing fury that had reached the top of his head.
He was a man who was exceptionally cold even while using fire arts. To see such a man this angry, Muk-yeon found it truly bizarre even in this situation.
"Where is my son?"
"Keuk..."
As he asked, the grip loosened slightly. Just enough for him to speak.
Noticing this, Muk-yeon carefully spat out his words.
"If... it's you... you must... have already known, didn't you?"
At Muk-yeon's words, the opponent's eyes narrowed slightly. He knew that was a sign of affirmation.
Also, Muk-yeon was as certain as his words implied.
That if it were this man, he would have already come knowing the situation to some extent.
He was originally a firm man.
Once he became angry, he couldn't be stopped, but until then, he strictly kept his boundaries.
It was even more so because he knew well what kind of disaster his anger could create.
That was why. That was why he was even more terrifying.
One who knew his own power all too objectively.
It had been like that since the old days, but Muk-yeon found this man, Gu Cheol-un, difficult.
Too upright to sway. He possessed the strength to maintain his upright convictions, but that power was too dangerous.
Even his solid convictions were not necessarily directed toward the Alliance.
Thus, they had placed shackles on him. Because he was so strong, he could break free at any time, but they made it so his own convictions held his ankles.
That was the time they had bought.
"..."
The owner of the red eyes. Gu Cheol-un looked at Muk-yeon quietly, then released the strength in his hand.
*Thud-*! Freed from his hand, Muk-yeon's body collapsed to the floor. His aged body slumped down.
"Cough-! Cough--!!"
As he roughly spat out dry coughs, Gu Cheol-un leaned his upper body down and met eyes with Muk-yeon.
"I will change the question."
"...Cough."
"Why did you do it?"
"...!"
At Gu Cheol-un's voice, Muk-yeon's body stiffened hard.
Even without internal energy, he could tell. The sensation right now was killing intent.
A chilling sensation creeping meticulously down his throat. It felt as if even the will to breathe was passing over to his opponent.
His vision gradually narrowed. All he could see was Gu Cheol-un's red eyes.
*Hsssss...*
The air he inhaled was now far too hot.
It felt as if the invading air would burn his lungs to ashes.
'He hasn't changed.'
Feeling this, Muk-yeon recalled a certain past.
They were two of those currently called the Three Venerables, though they weren't at the time.
The strongest under the heavens of their era.
Three Heads and Lords of the Nine Sects and One Faction.
Against those whom no one could predict a victory against, the young man of that time—not the middle-aged man he was now—had spoken.
-There is no reason to flee.
A voice where not even a hint of trembling could be felt. A low and heavy voice, just like now, echoed softly toward them.
-Therefore, I will not flee.
Hiding a dying woman behind him, while bleeding profusely himself, the young man continued to speak to them.
At that sight, someone had spoken. If he remembered correctly, it was Woo-bong-chwi-gae.
Asking if he thought he could win even in this situation. Telling him to give up on that monster and come back quietly.
If not, they would have no choice but to kill him.
Anyone could see that was the case.
It was a fight with no odds of winning. There was nowhere to run, and he couldn't win by fighting.
He must have known all of that, yet even as his heart was dying.
-Why do you get to decide my defeat?
His eyes had not died.
-I have not lost yet.
-And I will not until the moment my breath stops.
His heart burned and burned, radiating light.
Even facing absolute powerhouses, the young man did not step back.
-So, come at me.
So to speak, a flame. That was a flame in human form.
A flame that would burn endlessly until he truly drew his last breath. A calamitous fire that would burn endlessly with only conviction and will alone.
Recalling that time, Muk-yeon let out a laugh without realizing it.
*Keuk-keuk...*
"..."
At that laugh, wrinkles formed on Gu Cheol-un's brow. It seemed he found it uncomfortable that he was laughing in this situation.
"...I'm sorry."
Muk-yeon readily spat out an apology.
Why did he just laugh? Recalling the reason, he immediately knew.
"I didn't mean to laugh. It just suddenly occurred to me because of your son."
Yes, that was definitely the reason he laughed.
"I thought he resembled you but not completely, but looking at him now, he resembles you quite a bit."
Thinking of Gu Cheol-un as a flame that burns endlessly, another flame came to mind from one side.
A peculiar child who stimulated curiosity, as if holding an absolute secret.
He had thought that child, too, was a continuously burning flame like Gu Cheol-un. But now, he was different from him.
'Cold.'
If the father was one who seemed cold but was actually hot.
That child was the opposite; he seemed to burn fiercely, yet he was cold.
He was definitely a flame, yet for some reason, a deep coldness could be felt. At the mere age of twenty, having experienced so much, his eyes held years in them.
His way of speaking and his voice occasionally carried hostility.
Thus, the coldness was him suppressing it.
He could burn his surroundings at any time, but he hid himself and made himself cold.
To be honest, Muk-yeon was more afraid of that side.
However.
"Huu...?"
For some reason, Muk-yeon felt his breathing suddenly return.
His labored breathing became comfortable, and the constricting killing intent felt shallower. Feeling something strange, Muk-yeon lifted his bowed head.
Gu Cheol-un's red eyes were still visible straight ahead, but looking at them, Muk-yeon thought.
'Something has lessened.'
The gaze looking down at him seemed less murderous than before.
Was it an illusion? If not, why?
Just as Muk-yeon was pondering the question over the strange sign.
"Back then. We clearly made a pact."
Gu Cheol-un spoke to Muk-yeon. But his tone seemed to have changed a bit...
"I said I would not touch you if I did as you wished."
"..."
"Therefore, I did as you wished."
Gu Cheol-un's words were so heavy that Muk-yeon couldn't bring himself to voice his questions.
"As you wished, I fought the war. I burned many and piled up mountains of them. Along with that."
A chilling gleam flashed in Gu Cheol-un's eyes.
"Even knowing what atrocities the Murim Alliance was committing in the name of justice during that war, I turned a blind eye."
Muk-yeon's mouth was sealed. No emotion could be felt in Gu Cheol-un's eyes, but precisely because of that, it was even harder.
"I didn't care. I had known long ago that justice and righteousness had collapsed. That, too, was not so important to me."
As Gu Cheol-un continued to speak, Muk-yeon could tell.
That emotion was gradually being carried in his voice.
"So I didn't even refuse the bothersome task of placing a restriction on the Demonic Emperor. It wasn't that difficult a task, after all."
*Crrreak.*
The desk moved.
Not only the desk but also the documents piled on top of it shook and scattered.
"Even when the elders above finally made the wrong choice. Even when my subordinates met their deaths because of it."
*Crrrck.*
Cracks instantly formed in the building.
"That, too, didn't matter. What was important to me. Was solely the pact."
"...Chief Gu."
"You would know."
Despite Muk-yeon's call, Gu Cheol-un simply spat out his own words.
"That I could have broken this trivial pact at any time. Isn't that right?"
"..."
Instead of words, Muk-yeon nodded his head shallowly.
"Even so, the reason I went out of my way not to do so. Amusingly, it was because of a small stubbornness."
Gu Cheol-un's hand moved.
"The stubbornness that a wish must be protected."
Whose wish was he protecting?
A crucial part of the statement was missing, but Muk-yeon knew the answer.
"Therefore, I endured."
*Grrrrrind.*
Flames wrapped around his rough, slowly moving hand.
"According to the pact, I sent her away with my own hands."
The wrapped flames did not grow in size, but they could be seen growing increasingly vivid.
"That was to keep the end of the reprieve."
*Blaze-!!*
The flames overlaying the color coalesced as if they would burst at any moment.
At that moment.
*Boom-!!!*
Someone appeared and charged in.
At that sight, Gu Cheol-un moved his hand as if he had already known.
*Crack-!* The hand wrapped in flames grabbed the flying blade.
Yet his gaze remained unchanged.
Gu Cheol-un was looking only at Muk-yeon, as if he couldn't care less about the owner of the sword.
"Everything was for the pact with you. Didn't I say so back then too?"
*Clang-!* As Gu Cheol-un put strength into his hand, the grabbed sword shattered.
And.
*Kwaaang-!!*
"...!!"
With a violent sound, someone fell to their knees.
The figure who had burst into the room and slashed his sword. It was the Chief of the Guardian Corps that protected the Alliance, the Sword Emperor.
The Sword Emperor knelt on one knee with a scowling face. He had clearly taken a blow, but only the sound of something breaking could be heard; what exactly happened couldn't be seen.
"I will protect what I need to protect, so you protect yours as well. If you don't, I will not stop either. Do you remember this?"
"...I remember."
"I see. So you do remember."
At Muk-yeon's answer, Gu Cheol-un nodded for a moment. And then.
*Grab-!*
"Keok!"
He grabbed Muk-yeon's neck again, which he had released.
"Then why did you do it?"
It was a voice full of incomprehension.
"Why on earth is that child working in the Alliance's embrace then?"
"Keuuugh..."
He couldn't answer the question.
He couldn't even breathe.
"I clearly did as I was told."
"Keuk."
"I did so because that would grant a reprieve."
Just as Gu Cheol-un was about to continue speaking, the Sword Emperor tried to move. But in the end, he couldn't.
Because Muk-yeon had gestured for him to stay still.
"Because you wished not to reveal yourself, in exchange for not interfering with the children, I hid your existence."
Along with the emotion seeping into his voice, Gu Cheol-un's expression was the same.
His eyes were gradually filling with rage.
"Yet."
*Sizzle.*
A boiling sound could be heard from the floor. The wavering flames began to slowly consume the floor.
"Why are you touching my 'conviction'?"
Following his emotions, the flames engulfed Gu Cheol-un.
Muk-yeon was looking at a disaster. If it erupted here, it would be a disaster that no one could easily stop.
"Answer me. If you don't."
Gu Cheol-un said, looking at Muk-yeon.
"As of today, I will erase the Murim Alliance from this world."
It was not a lie.
Just as he did with the Tang Clan, Gu Cheol-un would sincerely erase the Murim Alliance.
That was.
Not a particularly difficult task for him right now.