It was over.
The realization that I had killed someone came toward me as a powerful impulse for the first time. The sound of something deep within my heart breaking echoed throughout my entire body.
This is only a novel······
It was the sound of the vague protective mechanism I had unconsciously harbored awakening and shattering.
Rustle.
A black shoe came down upon the sleet. I blankly raised my gaze. The commander’s dark eyes entered mine. Her body was being scattered by the falling snow.
“Dispose of the body.”
The commander said that. I looked at Chae Jinyun. Chae Jinyun, whose head had been blown away on one side, reduced to a miserable corpse.
However, that body had already become a demon once before and then collapsed. That flesh would not be able to move easily. Demonic energy still remained within him, and soon, as it burned, it would cause a powerful explosion.
The commander helped me to my feet. In that instant, I realized that my body had been scorched. The thin clothes I had worn for disguise had been reduced to ash at the moment of detonation.
I planted both feet on the ground, but I could not bring myself to stand. My reeling head came to rest against the commander’s shoulder. She stopped where she was and supported me.
Before long, another portal manifested. Jane and Kalifa appeared from within it. Upon witnessing the scene before them, their faces grew grave.
In that instant, demonic energy surged from Chae Jinyun’s corpse like a storm.
After that, I had no memory.
* * *
Late at night on January 3. That exceptionally cold and dark day.
Bang!
Chae Sinhyeok roughly flung open the door.
In the resting place of the dead, where a chilly air flowed, he encountered a familiar face.
“······Greetings, Mr. Chae Sinhyeok.”
The forensic pathologist, Gim Jungho.
It was their first reunion in approximately eleven years, since the death of his wife.
“······.”
Without even exchanging the usual pleasantries, Chae Sinhyeok approached the corpse lying beside him.
The moment he saw the body, his teeth clenched.
A cold corpse with half its face blown away. His own son, Chae Jinyun.
“Have you identified the suspect?”
Chae Sinhyeok maintained as much composure as possible.
“We don’t know yet. Whether a barrier was erected at the scene or not, not a single trace remains.”
Detectives these days possessed all sorts of extraordinary talents. Psychometry, cold reading, and so on······ Yet even the detectives of South Korea had been unable to find a single piece of evidence there.
“Was it the work of a demon?”
“······I’m not certain.”
“There’s demonic energy here.”
Chae Sinhyeok pointed toward the black energy concentrated in Chae Jinyun’s right arm.
“Do I look like an idiot to you?”
A single thick tear flowed from Chae Sinhyeok’s eyes, which had become red and bloodshot.
“······Mr. Chae Sinhyeok.”
Gim Jungho let out a quiet sigh.
And then he had to say what he did not want to say.
“This······ is demonic energy that was triggered within Jinyun’s body.”
“What······?”
Chae Sinhyeok’s face twisted violently.
Gim Jungho looked at him with sorrowful eyes.
“This demonic energy was triggered from within his flesh, spread throughout his body through his blood vessels, and then stopped. The reason it stopped would be his death.”
“······.”
Chae Sinhyeok could not understand his words.
No, he did not want to understand them.
Demonic energy triggered from within.
Wasn’t that······ impossible unless one was a demon?
“Who killed Jinyun. Who that heinous murderer is. If it were you, you could find them easily.”
Even as he spoke, Gim Jungho continued.
Chae Sinhyeok exhaled roughly and looked at him with wide pupils.
“With Daehyeon and Chae Jucheol’s power, you could search the entire world—even Pandemonium—and find them. But this isn’t the 1980s.”
Gim Jungho’s gaze slanted downward and came to rest on Chae Jinyun’s right arm.
“······Jinyun became a demon. No, I’ve never seen an arm like this in my entire life. This is more solid than the ‘demonization’ demons ordinarily use. The spell did not release even after death.”
Chae Sinhyeok’s breathing grew more ragged. Killing intent entered his glare as he stared at Gim Jungho.
“Something is presumed to have happened during the suppression operation four years ago, but······ to determine the exact cause and conduct a precise search for the culprit, an autopsy will be necessary. But an autopsy would expose Jinyun’s shame.”
Chae Sinhyeok looked down at his son.
A father’s gaze traveled over every corner of his son’s body.
Half a face remaining, eyes closed forever, a body so emaciated that the bones showed through, and······ a right arm consumed by something of unknown origin.
Chae Sinhyeok slowly closed his eyes.
It felt as though the source of the emotion flowing from the deepest part of his body was rotting his heart.
“This right arm······”
At last, Chae Sinhyeok spoke.
“Does no one know about it besides you?”
Gim Jungho remained silent and merely nodded.
“Is that so?”
“Yes. But someday, we will have to reveal it. For the sake of humanity.”
“······.”
Chae Sinhyeok placed a hand on his son’s cheek. Skin chilled cold. Dryness that could hardly be called flesh.
Stroking the cheek, no different from a fish’s, Chae Sinhyeok continued in a low voice.
“······I never thought that my son would awaken while I was still alive.”
He had thought his son had died four years ago.
He had suffered, believing himself to be deeply indebted to life.
But only two weeks ago.
When his son awoke as if by a miracle, it had felt as though he had regained the world.
“But today, I lost my son once more.”
His son had passed away so pointlessly.
As if he had awakened only for a brief moment to bid us one final farewell.
That alone must have been enough suffering. An agony that would be difficult to forget for an entire lifetime.
However.
“······I don’t want to lose him three times. For Nayun’s sake, I want to bury him in peace.”
Chae Sinhyeok said this as he looked at Gim Jungho. At the deep sorrow permeating his voice, Gim Jungho said nothing.
Tears flowed from the corners of Chae Sinhyeok’s eyes.
With a sigh, Gim Jungho lowered his head.
“······I’ll do my best. Then, I’ll be going.”
With those words, Gim Jungho left Chae Sinhyeok to his solitude.
“······.”
An empty space.
In a place filled only with the chill of iron and the coldness of the corpse, Chae Sinhyeok touched his son’s face with trembling hands.
Choked by an emotion he could not overcome, he could not say a word.
There was only one wish that welled up from the depths of his heart.
It was all he could do—to wish for it with all his might.
My son.
My son.
Please, in your next life, do not be born to a useless father like me.
* * *
A memory from long ago.
Its colors were faint, and much of it had faded in places, but it was a fragment of a dream I used to have often.
─Nayun.
That person, my older brother, stared at me for a long while as I practiced archery before calling my name.
─Yes?
─······If it’s hard, you can take it easy and rest.
He approached and carefully took my hand. My palm and fingers were red and swollen where the flesh had split, and he seemed to feel sorry for them, but I shook my head.
─I’m going to work even harder. I want to become a greater hero than you, Oppa.
Despite my impudent, brazen words, he smiled bashfully and stroked my head.
His large palm was reassuring and warm.
─I hope you do. By the way, you haven’t forgotten about going to the amusement park next week, have you?
The amusement park. Probably a trip to Foreverland, the most famous one in Korea. But the me in that memory shook my head with an embarrassed expression.
─Ah, I can’t go. I made plans to go somewhere else with my friends.
─······Really?
He looked disappointed, but soon gave a small laugh.
─Then it can’t be helped. I’m off to work, so take it easy with your morning exercise. If you overdo it, you won’t grow any taller.
─Okay~ Have a good day~
The reason that memory from that morning was especially vivid was because, that night—
My brother returned as a vegetable.
“······Ah.”
Tears flowed the moment I opened my eyes. Sunlight streamed in so brightly that it seemed to pierce me.
The sun had risen over Baekdu Mountain’s Cheonji as well. The morning at Yu Sihyeok’s Martial Arts Hall was clear and refreshing. Even the fog and barrier-like mana phenomena that usually appeared were absent today.
I leaped up and looked beside my bed.
Photographs of me with my brother, framed.
The precious things I had brought with me were lined up as usual.
“······Hehe.”
A gentle smile formed around my lips.
I glanced around the empty interior, then took out a photograph I had hidden beneath the others. It was a picture of me and Gim Hajin.
“Even I have to admit I look pretty in this.”
There was no particular reason for me to look at this photograph.
Really, truly, none at all. It was just that I had come out incredibly pretty in it.
It definitely wasn’t because it was a picture taken with Gim Hajin.
“Aaah~”
I put the photograph away and let out a languid yet pleasant breath. I smiled at the mild, warm sunlight outside the window, then headed toward the bathhouse.
“Are you up early too, unnie?”
The moment I entered the bathhouse, a little girl of about ten spoke to me.
“Yeah. You got up early too.”
“I’m Jihye. Jihye.”
“Okay, Jihye.”
There were sixteen official disciples at Yu Sihyeok’s Martial Arts Hall.
Eight men and eight women, they were taught under Yu Sihyeok and five masters.
However, the ten of us, including me and Gim Suho, who were known as the “camp members,” were not counted among those official disciples. We were people who would receive intense training only during vacation and then disappear.
“Ah, this is great.”
After taking a quick shower, I immersed myself in the hot spring bath. A hot spring heated with Cheonji’s water was always the right choice.
I soaked for about twenty minutes before coming back outside.
I changed into my martial arts uniform and went out to the front courtyard, where morning training took place.
“Hey, Chae Nayun.”
Sin Jonghak and Gim Suho, who seemed to have just finished bathing as well, approached me.
I chuckled and said,
“Hey, hey. Isn’t the morning incredibly refreshing today?”
“Sure is~”
“Looks like even you might beat the crap out of someone today. Watch yourself.”
Maybe it was because the sky was so clear, but for some reason I was in an excellent mood.
Gim Suho, who had been watching me, laughed as if he found me ridiculous.
“You’re incredibly lively today. Is it because it’s letter-writing day?”
“Huh?”
January 3.
Exactly ten days since we had entered.
There was one special item on today’s schedule.
“W-What are you talking about? It’s not like that!”
Electronic devices did not function at Baekdu Mountain’s Cheonji. As such, communication with the surface was impossible. Master Yu Sihyeok had deliberately made no provision to overcome that problem.
However, contact with the surface was possible today alone.
The “time for letters,” which came around every ten days, was the reason.
“Right, Gim Suho. The person you’re writing to is right here beside you, so what the hell are you talking about?”
“Shut up, will you······ Ah, seriously.”
For no reason, I smacked Sin Jonghak hard on the shoulder. He kept making me swear. I was trying to correct my speech, too, and he was getting on my nerves.
“He’s coming.”
Just then, Yu Sihyeok appeared in the distance, walking toward us with his hands clasped behind his back.
“Get ready. Get ready.”
We stood tightly in a single line.
How many hours would we train today?
Ten hours? Twelve hours?
* * *
······Fourteen hours later.
The sun had set long ago, and the hellish training had finally ended. On that pitch-black night, Chae Nayun was sitting facedown on the floor, glaring at a sheet of paper.
[Hello. I’m currently at Baekdu Mountain.]
“······This isn’t right.”
She had already written the letter to Chae Jinyun.
Writing whatever came to mind had taken only thirty minutes. But this letter required a little more thought.
[I’m at Baekdu Mountain lol Training is so easy lol;; What are you doing? lolol]
“No, not this······.”
In the end, Chae Nayun ran a hand through her hair and flung down her pen. If she had known this would happen, she would have read a few books. She had no idea how she was supposed to write this.
“Jeez.”
But she couldn’t let an opportunity that came only once every ten days pass her by like this, so she eventually picked up the pen again.
It was just as Chae Nayun was wracking her brain over and over.
Knock knock─
A knock sounded, and then the door was suddenly flung wide open.
“What is it!”
Startled, Chae Nayun covered the letter with her entire body. Raising her head at an angle while remaining in that position, she found Yu Sihyeok looking down at her.
“······Chae Nayun.”
His voice was low and cold.
Chae Nayun slipped the letter into her pocket and slowly rose to her feet.
“Yes, Master. Ah, but could you knock first?”
“……Come outside for a moment.”
Yoo Sihyuk was unusually serious today.
“What?”
“……Just come out if I tell you to.”
Unlike her usual master, his tone was strangely gentle.
As she mentally checked whether she had done something wrong, she followed him outside for the time being.
* * *
January 5.
The grim news arrived on a clear day. At her father and mother’s words, Yoo Yeonha hurriedly ended the meeting she was attending and got into the car.
Chae Jinyoon was dead.
Her parents said nothing more.
Leaning against the back of the seat, Yoo Yeonha’s mind went blank.
She suddenly thought of Chae Nayun.
She had been so happy when she heard that her brother had woken up……
Remembering that, she felt as though her chest were strangely constricted. It had nothing to do with her, and it was not something she had experienced herself, yet it hurt as though her heart were being squeezed tight.
“……Let’s get out.”
They seemed to have arrived at the funeral hall without her noticing. Yoo Jinwoong spoke in a low voice.
Yoo Yeonha got out, following her parents.
Daehyun Funeral Hall. No reporters had the nerve to camp outside Daehyun’s wake, and the funeral hall grounds were quiet and desolate.
“……Huh?”
Yoo Yeonha, trudging toward the entrance, suddenly stopped.
Beneath the shade of a tree stood someone familiar.
Kim Hajin.
The man who was unmistakably Kim Hajin…… was smoking a cigarette and staring at the wake with a troubled look in his eyes.
“Why isn’t he going inside and just standing there……? And since when did he smoke?”
“Yeonha. What are you doing?”
Her mother caught hold of her at that moment.
“Oh, yes. I’m coming.”
Yoo Yeonha followed her mother inside for now.
As soon as she entered the cramped funeral hall, which was unlike anything one would expect from Daehyun, the first person she looked for was Chae Nayun.
Chae Nayun was sitting there blankly. Her vacant eyes were filled with so much despair that it was difficult even to look at them. It was a side of Chae Nayun—always bright and lively—that Yoo Yeonha had never seen before.
Swallowing the sigh rising in her chest, Yoo Yeonha stood before the bereaved family.
“Nayun.”
“Uh…… Ah, Yeonha…… You came.”
Chae Nayun greeted Yoo Yeonha. She tried desperately to smile brightly, but that only made her look sadder. Tears seemed ready to spill from her lifeless eyes at any moment. Yet she was stubbornly holding back her sobs.
Yoo Yeonha understood.
That was simply the kind of person Chae Nayun was.
“Yeah. Wait a moment.”
First, she straightened her collar, then bowed together with her parents before Chae Jinyoon’s portrait.
“Mr. Chae Shinhyuk.”
“……Oh. You came.”
Afterward, as their fathers faced each other, Yoo Yeonha approached Chae Nayun. Meeting her eyes, she gently took Chae Nayun’s hand.
“Um, Nayun…… What about the others?”
“……I didn’t tell them. Since I didn’t tell them, don’t call them either.”
For some reason, Chae Nayun sounded desperate as she said this. But Yoo Yeonha thought of Kim Hajin, who had been waiting outside while smoking a cigarette.
“Even if you tell me not to call them…… he’s already out there.”
“……Who?”
Chae Nayun asked back weakly.
“Kim Hajin.”
At the three syllables Yoo Yeonha whispered softly, Chae Nayun stood there in a daze.
She remained motionless for a long while, as though she had been struck by some terrible shock, and then—
“Me, just a moment. I’ll be right back.”
She walked out of the wake.
“…….”
Chae Nayun could barely walk properly. Her knees trembled, and there was no strength in her ankles.
The sight of her staggering and stumbling away was so unlike the Chae Nayun who was usually overflowing with energy and confidence that Yoo Yeonha could only feel pity for her.
The End
When I opened my eyes, I saw an unfamiliar ceiling. Rather than unfamiliar, it was luxurious.
Christian fresco murals glittered above me. As I focused my gaze on them for a while, the mana responded, making the colors of the murals appear more vivid.
It was quite a fascinating device.