The End of Delusion (1)
The disappearance of the chancellor of Cheonghae and the great general of Hongsan.
It was like a massive boulder hurled into the recent world order, which had been as precarious as thin ice.
“The imperial palace was invaded and the chancellor abducted! If we sit still in a situation like this, the whole world will laugh at us!”
“To dare harm our great general within our own territory. This could not have happened unless they were looking down on our Hongsan. We absolutely must not stand by.”
Cheonghae had failed to protect a political giant, its chancellor, in the very heart of the imperial palace that should have been the safest place of all. Hongsan, meanwhile, had seen its great general—the symbol of the nation’s military might—and his subordinates defeated by a single person. Both nations had suffered a grievous blow to their pride.
So much so that they could not even openly announce the incident to the outside world.
…Of course, not announcing it did not mean an incident of this magnitude could possibly be hidden.
It was only reasonable to assume that everyone who ought to know already knew.
“So who in the world is the culprit?”
“He doesn’t seem to be an ordinary demonic path cultivator…”
The problem was that even now, they had yet to precisely identify the perpetrator behind this incident.
They had combed through their entire accumulated database based on witness accounts, but rather than learning anything about the suspect, they had only ended up with more questions.
As if the person had fallen from the sky just before the incident occurred.
“What do you mean, who is the culprit? Isn’t it obvious?”
“There is no way mere demonic path cultivators could have plotted something like this. There must be someone behind the scenes who instigated all of it.”
It was then that a strange current began to flow through the political situation, which had been thrown into chaos.
“Who else would do something like this but Hongsan?”
“Cheonghae. Those seal bastards have finally gone and done it.”
Before long, public opinion began to seethe, naming the other country as the power behind the incident and demanding retaliation.
The claim, which had begun among the more radical elements, gained subtle support and soon reached the point of being discussed in earnest.
The intelligence that the other country was in a similar situation at the moment was not particularly important to them.
Something like that could simply be dismissed as a self-staged ploy to feign innocence.
“No, there are more than a few suspicious points here to simply conclude it that way and move on…”
It was not as though there were no people who sensed something strange in that artificial current, but the tide had already shifted long ago toward the pro-war faction, which had prepared for this moment over a long period of time.
They pushed for war all the more actively, as if this situation were an opportunity.
Nor was this state of affairs confined solely to the political arena.
As though someone had been working behind the scenes, all manner of slander and rumors about the other country began spreading like wildfire among the common people as well, as if on cue.
An explosive atmosphere, so tense that war seemed ready to break out the moment someone so much as tapped it.
However, the mind of the one who had led matters to flow in this direction was just as complicated.
“…Tch. How did things end up like this?”
The being in the darkness clicked his tongue.
Though he had cultivated himself for many years, he could not help growing anxious at the situation’s refusal to proceed as he intended.
Originally, events were supposed to unfold in a more natural and dramatic fashion, not in this forced manner.
‘The one I’ve been watching so closely hasn’t even moved. Was my prediction wrong?’
The otherworlder named “Hun,” who had stirred his ominous instincts.
He had not slackened his vigilance toward that outsider in the slightest.
The attack during the process of overturning the Seongcheon Yun Clan had not been the end of it.
Assigning a demonic path cultivator from the depths to the otherworlders’ lodgings, which were not particularly important, and inciting the desires of someone who bore a grudge against him had merely been the beginning.
It would have been ideal if everything had been settled then, but he had always been ready to implement a second-best measure in preparation for an unexpected situation.
‘From a trap that would bind him for certain the moment he stepped to the forefront as he did before, to preparations for stealing away the little girl who would be left alone at that time—I had everything in place.’
Yet all those operations, painstakingly designed, had been indefinitely frozen when Hun shut himself inside the Yun Clan and did not take a single step outside.
Even so, when he heard that Hun had begun interrogating the prisoners, he thought there might be some movement from him before long…
“…Just what are they? Those monsters…”
He slowly closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, forcing down the fury boiling within him.
Not a single one of the major incidents that had recently occurred had unfolded as he had expected.
The demon who, immediately after appearing, had turned Cheonghae’s imperial palace upside down.
And the bizarre being who had utterly destroyed one of Hongsan’s mountains along with numerous elite troops.
Those two beings who had suddenly appeared were risk factors incomparable to the Hun he had been wary of before.
‘It seems I made a mistake. I must have mistaken the warning about those two appearing as pointing to that man named Hun. Of all things, the timing happened to line up by coincidence…’
In the end, that was the only conclusion he could reach.
He could not even imagine that all three were entities derived from a single being.
Of course, realizing that now changed nothing.
‘There’s nothing for it now. Even if our preparations are insufficient and things go awry, we have no choice but to make the first move before they do anything.’
The chancellor, the great general, and the Black King were the highest administrators leading operations in their respective domains.
From the moment their persons fell into the hands of unidentified enemies, the likelihood of success for the operations planned going forward had inevitably become uncertain.
‘No, at this point, I can’t consider myself safe either.’
It was no different from having the point of a blade pressed beneath his chin.
Now he had mounted the tiger and could not dismount.
The best course was to make his move before the enemies used the pieces they had obtained to do something.
“…Wait, what?”
And so, he had been doing his utmost to start the war as quickly as possible.
But fate, once it had slipped from his grasp, did not smile upon him again.
“Someone… appeared at the Yun Clan?”
Another development that deviated from his expectations.
Feeling a throbbing headache, he squeezed his eyes shut.
***
The Seongcheon Yun Clan, where countless people were always coming and going.
“……”
“……”
Among them, in the lobby of the Guest Hall, where outsiders visiting the main family were received, an unprecedentedly quiet silence now hung in the air.
It was not that there were no people around.
On the contrary, the crowd that had gathered was nearly twice the usual size, but they were all staring silently at one place, taking care even with their breathing.
‘This is quite the attention.’
At the center of those countless gazes.
Hella, standing there with a composed air, gave a wry smile and brushed her hair behind her ear.
“Huh!”
“Ahem.”
At that one action, done without much thought, sighs escaped from all directions.
Perhaps embarrassed themselves, they quickly cleared their throats and averted their eyes, but even that did not last long.
The crowd soon turned their gazes back without realizing it, staring vacantly at her.
“I apologize for keeping you waiting. I am Yun Jacob, in charge of this Guest Hall. Please come this way. I will escort you inside.”
That peculiar situation only came to an end when the master of the Guest Hall, having received his subordinate’s report, hurried over in person.
Hella nodded and calmly followed him as he guided her inward.
‘I’ve come this way countless times as Hun, but visiting as Hella feels somehow new.’
That was probably because the reactions around her were different.
No matter how much she suppressed that demonic charm, the allure she possessed was, quite literally, enough to bring a nation to ruin.
It was nothing unusual for people, regardless of gender, to be bewitched by her and lose their senses.
‘There’s also the fact that he knows who I am.’
She glanced at Jacob, who was leading the way ahead of her.
He was so nervous that the back of his neck was already damp with cold sweat.
For a clan like the Yun Clan, it was not rare for visitors to be of high status. As such, in order to match the proper level of reception, the status of the person in charge of the Guest Hall could not be insignificant either.
But no matter how stouthearted he was, there were limits.
It was hardly easy to maintain composure before a monster said to have single-handedly stormed into a nation’s imperial palace, wreaked havoc, and leisurely walked out.
Especially when the mental image he sensed from her unconsciously was overflowing with a vicious aura incomparable to that of an ordinary demonic path cultivator…
“Welcome to the Seongcheon Yun Clan. I am Yun Seolyeong, an elder here.”
And the middle-aged female elder whom she met after being guided by the Guest Hall master likewise showed signs of tension.
As befitted an elder, she maintained a calm exterior and smiled, but even that could not escape Hella’s sharp gaze.
“Nice to meet you~! You can call me Hella.”
“Hella… nim, then.”
Yun Seolyeong responded with an awkward smile.
At a glance, it was obvious she was trying to probe why this nuclear bomb had rolled all the way here.
‘I understand how she feels well enough.’
Was Hella not, in effect, the source of the current war atmosphere between the two nations?
And yet the person herself had boldly visited the main family through the front gate…
By now, all the other leaders of the Yun Clan had probably been summoned as well and were holding an emergency meeting.
For now, because she had requested a peaceful conversation first, they were receiving her, but the fighters covertly surrounding the area outside were likely an extension of that same response.
‘But what can I do? This is the best method to stop the war.’
In the end, the gist of what the pro-war factions of each country were claiming was this:
that the incident in their own country had occurred at the instigation of the other.
If so, there was only one thing she had to do in order to collapse that justification for war.
‘I’ll go with the straightforward approach.’
She would step openly to the forefront, leaving no room even for other excuses, and focus everyone’s attention on herself.
Once Harley, who would arrive later with the prisoners he had secured, joined her, it would become even more certain.
The completely neutral Seongcheon Yun Clan was the perfect stage for displaying that.
Of course, this was a choice that could never be made without confidence in one’s strength.
One wrong move and she could end up fighting not only Hongsan and Cheonghae, but also the demonic path cultivators and the Yun Clan.
It was, in every sense, an act of making an enemy of the entire continent…
‘So what?’
Hella leisurely crossed her legs, propped her chin on her hand, and smiled faintly.
There was no way she would be concerned with such trivial matters at this point, was there?
If you’re confident you can subdue me by force, then try.
I won’t hide or run.
“…So what Hella-nim is saying is that you intend to use our Seongcheon Yun Clan as a shield?”
“Oh? That sounds a little hurtful when you put it that way. There’s a nicer phrase called mutual assistance.”
“That is hardly something that can be used in the current situ— Haa, never mind.”
Of course, since she would be drawing every last bit of aggro she possibly could, the Yun Clan, as the stage, might suffer some damage.
Perhaps they might even draw suspicion that the Yun Clan had been behind it from the beginning.
However, she was not without something to say on that point either.
‘If they claim to be guardians of peace in name, they should be able to endure this much. Yes, absolutely.’
If war broke out anyway, it was obvious that those caught in the middle would suffer the greatest damage.
Considering that she was lessening that burden for them, was this not something they ought to be thanking her for instead?
“You did not think we would accept that, did you?”
“Well, is there any other good way to stop the war? You must have grasped roughly how things are going after investigating all this time, haven’t you? I’d be a little disappointed if you didn’t even have that much ability.”
At Hella’s words, Yun Seolyeong closed her mouth.
Because in truth, she knew very well that those words were correct.
Just a short while ago, one of their guests, “Hun,” had finally succeeded in extracting information after investigating the prisoners who had attacked the Yun Clan.
The facts he uncovered then were strikingly similar to Hella’s claim that a mastermind was inciting war.
The chancellor of Cheonghae and the great general of Hongsan had also been named at that time as the principal culprits, so one could say her words carried a certain degree of credibility.
‘There is no way they could have had any point of contact with each other, so that guarantees a degree of objectivity as well. Of course, further verification will be necessary…’
Seeing Yun Seolyeong frown and clutch at her aching head, Hella smiled faintly.
Since it matched the testimony of Hun, with whom they had built trust in various ways, it would be difficult to dismiss lightly.
It was not as though she had lied, so there was no reason for her conscience to prick her either.
‘Besides, while I buy time here, there’s something else I need to do separately.’
In truth, whatever she did here now was nothing more than an act of stalling for time.
Ultimately, if she wanted to see this through to the end in any form, she had to uproot the source of all this.
‘And to do that, I first have to deal with that chakra of delusion somehow.’
There was no telling who might fall to it and try to do something insane.
Until their eyes rolled back, not even the person themselves could know who had been bewitched, so if she rashly touched it, there was a high chance it would turn into a pointless game of mafia.
‘Coincidentally… that is, if I weren’t a specialist in that field.’
For Hella, bewitching someone whose mental barriers had already weakened from harboring delusion was as easy as lying down and eating rice cakes.
If she seized control over that delusion one by one, the moment would surely come when the thread of causality connected to the chakra’s master.
And the beginning of that plan was none other than the Seongcheon Yun Clan.