episode_0093

The devil opened his mouth.

“What are you thinking about?”

Are you worried about her? Since you two have become very close, is it because you don’t want to break up?

“I will force freedom on Soo-oh. People should not be bound by anyone. They should live freely doing what they want to do.”

Then Cheonma frowns.

“Throw it away?”

“No. Speak straight. This is independence.”

There comes a moment when everyone must stand on their own as an individual. If we miss this moment, the light becomes smaller and the warmth diminishes.

Therefore, I want people to enjoy all their freedom.

Just like Oh Myeong-seong, who is still killing people who rush at him shouting that he is a martial arts master.

His light is dark purple, but it is large and carries a lot of warmth.

And the warmth you give away is much more than the warmth you have.

“Even if reality is not like that, I believe that a world where everyone can live freely will come, so So-oh must also become free.”

I told Cheonma what I wanted.

“People should be free to express their feelings, love others, create what they want to create, and do whatever their desires lead them to.”

So let’s go up to the sky. When people stand above numbers, not people standing above people.

When people die for reasons other than life expectancy, it is nothing more than an increase or decrease in numbers.

I can get more warmth.

I don’t believe that such a world will come. I know that such a world will come. It can be done when everyone pursues freedom, and violates each other’s freedom, and takes away the power to be free.

There is no right or wrong here. It is a pure struggle for survival. Just do what you have always done in nature.

“What does that have to do with you going out?”

Don’t be fooled by words.

“There is a connection. If I share myself, people will be a little more free. Hey, Cheonma. Do you like your current body?”

At my words, Cheonma looked down at his own body.

A woman in her early to mid 20s.

The image of a man in his mid-30s is nowhere to be found. I don’t know if he becomes free from gender when the harvest season comes, but it’s probably the same kind of ability.

“I don’t like your skin color. It doesn’t look human.”

“That’s what happens to people who are fatally wounded. Consider yourself lucky to be alive.”

Cheonma agreed with what I said. At that time, he was practically a corpse. Looking back, his limbs were all torn off, and his internal organs were ruptured, so he was truly on the verge of death.

“You don’t know your own strength.”

“I don’t know. You said it was a person? I’m groping around in the dark, examining myself.”

But Cheonma lifted his arm and looked at me while resting his chin on it.

“Were you really a human? Sometimes it’s creepy to hear you talk. It’s like you’re pretending to be a human.”

We talked about this and that a lot over the past year. Most of the topics were about Soo-oh, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t talk about small talk at all.

“Now it’s just a monster.”

“You’re a monster.”

Even the Heavenly Horse doesn’t make a choice while going around and around.

If you don’t want to take Soo like that, you can just say you’ll take care of Soo.

Or are you wondering what to do with me?

She looked at me with a sense that I couldn’t sense, and she blurted out what I was in her own way.

Up until now, we’ve kept it alive because of Soo, but you might think that we can’t just stand by and watch a dangerous monster roam around.

The current Cheonma is running the Cheonma Shingyo well.

Originally, people would swing a sword to protect what they have, even if it was wrong.

Will Cheonma do that too?

Cheonma was silent for a long time.

And then he spoke in a small voice.

“Don’t go.”

It was a very small sound, but it startled me.

yes?

No, what was Cheonma saying just now?

Don’t go? Why do you sound like you’re begging me? If it’s something like, “You can’t go,” or “Go,” or “Do whatever you want,” then I don’t understand.

But, you’re asking me to do something?

When I look at Cheonma’s face, his skin color has changed slightly. It’s as if he’s embarrassed.

Wait a minute. So, you’re saying that Cheonma is embarrassed by what he said? He doesn’t want me to disappear? He really has feelings for me?

No. What is this?

Since it was Soo’s accessory, didn’t you have some affection for it?

Faded memories shine. In a world filled with gray, a man is giggling at a funny sight. It doesn’t matter what he sees and laughs at. Only the laughter itself shines.

And then slowly, that memory lost its luster and disappeared, sinking back into the depths of where memories are.

“That’s really stupid. Cheonma. Not calling me by my name, not being friendly, just being a Soo-oh extra.”

Why do you say that?

Cheonma opened his eyes wide. And the corners of his eyes narrowed.

He’s smiling.

“It was worth it to say it out loud just to see you so flustered.”

Cheonma said that and looked forward. I looked at her with my eyes, but her eyes were wandering in the air. She wasn’t looking at anything, but at the past.

“They haven’t told me yet. Wait 4 years. 4 years.”

Suddenly, Cheonma drew a line.

4 years.

It’s long.

But it’s also a short time. In the first world, I waited for over 80 years.

“Then I will share myself with people.”

At my words, Cheonma burst into laughter.

“That’s right. Cheonma Shingyo. A place where everyone can use Cheonma Shingong. That would be fun too.”

Does everyone use the Cheonma Shingong?

Oh, that’s right. Cheonma knows that I know Cheonma Shingong. Cheonma seems to think it’s Eunjae’s technique, but I have the memories that the harvester has.

“I like it. But if I do that, won’t the position of the Heavenly Horse be shaken?”

“There are already Gapjae and Byeongil, and a man named Jo Jungwoo. The energy of Cheonma Shingong is unique, so it is impossible not to know.”

Jo Jung-woo is the name of the guardian deity of the Heavenly Palace. I’m sure I’ve seen his eyes before. But I thought I just overlooked it, but I guess I remembered.

That’s why gaze is uncomfortable. It’s hard to know whether you clearly recognize something after it hits you or whether you just pass it by.

Besides, if it’s energy, it’s a feeling I don’t know.

“Can I feel that energy?”

If you are giving off such vibes, you need to be a little more careful in the future. To prepare for danger, I asked Cheonma.

“No.”

Cheonma answered briefly. Then he put down the hand that was resting his chin and turned his gaze to me.

“I don’t feel anything. You are not a power extracted by law, you are the law itself.”

Before, Cheonma saw me and said that I was like annihilation.

It’s just a monster on the opposite side of the energy so it can’t be used.

“At that time, Cheonma touched me and found out, right?”

“Have you ever picked up a piece of lint from your clothes to get it off, only to find that the threads were long and the clothes were falling apart?”

I nodded because it was in my faded memory.

“Yes.”

“You were the hand. When I put the fluff called Qi in, the hand grabbed it and pulled it. The Qi itself that made me was sucked in. If I hadn’t let go then, I would have died empty.”

I was reminded of the technique called Absorption Technique used by Oh Myeong-seong and Guseong Yong. However, the corpses that have their energy sucked in by the Absorption Technique dry up and become twisted. Isn’t it subtly different?

“Did Cheonma shiver from the cold?”

“It was cold. So cold that I never want to feel it again.”

Then Cheonma looks at me with slightly fearful eyes.

“I did it just because of the coldness you felt from your fingertips. The warmth you wanted was to bury that cold, right? The day I first asked you what your purpose was. You said you would do anything for warmth. So when you share yourself, it must be to gain warmth.”

Then, all of a sudden, Cheonma came to know the truth.

That’s why I don’t like smart people.

It would be nice if everyone were stupid.

No, but that would be weird.

“And you still tell me not to go?”

Shouldn’t people stay away from scary things?

Cheonma laughed bitterly at my question.

Then he raises his finger and points to the yard or the house, and tells us one by one what So-o, Cheon-ma, and I had done.

Last winter. I played in the yard, making a snowman.

This spring. I played with water boulders at the edge of a cliff.

A while ago, I built a sand castle on the beach down there.

A few other minor incidents as well.

It is a wedge of memory that increases the probability of So-oh gritting his teeth, and it is also an opportunity for Cheon-ma and So-oh to feel affection for each other.

Of course, I was there in between, but I wasn’t in the middle of it.

I told them both and left them to play.

“Why is that?”

At my question, Cheonma laughed heartily. It was more like the laughter of a child than a feminine or masculine laugh.

“Whatever you are, whatever plans you make, whatever you do, it’s all good now.”

Then Cheonma sat down on the porch and looked straight at me.

“You have received an impossible treasure, and until the day its light fades, the black sword of Immomo will be yours.”

That was just me saying it as politely as I could as a person.

“This is really stupid, you know?”

“I know. So what? Of all those who criticized me for being foolish, did any of you give me a treasure? Enough already. No, I’m satisfied with this.”

Faded memories flicker faintly. It’s a deep sigh. Was the idea of cooperation such a foolish thing?

I guess that’s what I was hoping for, but I don’t know why it’s like this.

I was about to say something, but then I lifted up my heart, which was torn to pieces by the cold and not even a single particle remained.

It’s empty there.

There is nothing, but it whispers as if there is.

From faded memories, through the first world, to the second world, a memory refers to one word.

“Friend?”

“Yeah. I like that.”

Cheonma laughed like an innocent child.

At the same time, in a corner of my memory, an old woman bowed her head.

I couldn’t open my mouth.