Chapter 925: So in the end.

“What is this all of a sudden…!”

Pulled out of nowhere, Gu Bong let out a groan, but the hand holding him wouldn’t let go.

He tried to break free quickly, but it was so strong he couldn’t move an inch.

“Grrrk!”

Thanks to that, he had to arrive somewhere before he was even fully awake.

Only then was his collar released, and Gu Bong rolled onto the floor.

He managed to perform a breakfall, but it was a clumsy landing.

Gu Bong immediately got up, scowling as he looked at Gu Yangcheon.

“What in the world are you doing…!”

“Are you awake now?”

Despite Gu Bong’s words, Gu Yangcheon just responded with a smirk.

“What exactly is this….”

“I told you. I want you to work with me.”

“So what does that mean?”

It’s ridiculous, first thing in the morning.

Bursting in out of nowhere and asking me to work? It’s a situation I can’t and don’t want to understand.

‘How can a person…’

Be so high-handed and have no manners?

Gu Bong gritted his teeth. He wasn’t feeling great anyway after dreaming about the past.

‘Is someone like that really the one the Sect Leader has been waiting for so eagerly?’

Looking at Gu Yangcheon, Gu Bong bit his lip.

He didn’t want to admit it.

Especially if it was that guy.

-You ran away.

His words kept echoing, sticking in his head.

“If you’re going to do something, at least explain the situation-“

Just as he was trying to force himself to speak,

“Ah, you talk too damn much, kid.”

Gu Yangcheon cut him off again. His voice held a hint of irritation.

“Since you seem to know the most about it, I’m asking you to help out. I got permission from the Sect Leader you serve so devotedly, so just do it.”

“…The Sect Leader’s permission?”

Gu Yangcheon’s words made Gu Bong’s eyes widen.

The Sect Leader gave permission?

“For what…?”

“I asked if I could borrow you because I need to use you, and they said it was fine.”

“…”

‘Use’ me? As if I were an object.

Gu Bong felt his temper rising at that, but the reason given before sealed his lips.

The Sect Leader gave permission.

That single sentence controlled Gu Bong’s every action.

“Hmm.”

Gu Yangcheon glanced at him, unable to hide his interest, and added something else.

“Just so you don’t misunderstand, I’m not asking because I particularly like you.”

“…Then.”

“But you seemed like the best fit.”

“…”

What could that mean? If he didn’t like me, he didn’t have to do this.

I don’t understand why he insists I’m the best fit.

“So stop sulking and get up. I’m a busy person too.”

“What exactly are you planning to do….”

Gu Bong staggered to his feet. Seeing that, Gu Yangcheon said,

“It’s nothing major.”

It really wasn’t anything major.

“First, I think I need to take care of those nobles. I don’t have much information.”

“Huh?”

“But you probably know, right? Tell me about them.”

It wasn’t ‘nothing major’ just for Gu Bong.

“Nobles…. What did you say about nobles?”

“I said I need to sort them out, but I lack information.”

Ah, I didn’t mishear.

“No…”

But why isn’t this a mishearing?

Gu Bong looked at Gu Yangcheon with a thoroughly bewildered expression.

“Why suddenly deal with them?”

He asked, barely maintaining his composure. Gu Yangcheon replied,

“Because they’re fucking annoying.”

An entirely irrational answer flew back.

“Aren’t you annoyed too?”

“That…”

He wanted to explain that this wasn’t a matter of being annoyed or not.

As he’d felt earlier, the man was like fire.

He burned constantly. Just being near him, Gu Bong felt like he himself would burn up.

“My lord… nobles…”

Because of that, Gu Bong tried his best to intervene, but

“I thought you’d know better?”

“…”

The follow-up words made him freeze like stone.

He felt a subtle thorn in the seemingly casual words.

Gu Bong looked straight at Gu Yangcheon, but

Gu Yangcheon met his gaze, smirked, and turned away.

“Never mind then.”

“My lord.”

Could he know something about me? Gu Bong tried to ask this in a slightly trembling voice, but

“Who’s making such a ruckus in front of someone’s house?”

Suddenly, someone appeared, cutting off Gu Yangcheon and Gu Bong.

Gu Bong’s eyes widened upon seeing him.

“Elder?”

It was Geobuk. Only then did Gu Bong look around.

He realized he’d been dragged to his own teahouse.

Geobuk, frowning deeply, looked at the two of them, his long eyebrows twitching slightly.

“Do you know what time it is? Disturbing an old man’s sleep first thing in the morning…”

Clearly displeased, Geobuk spoke with considerable annoyance.

“If you’re going to fight, do it somewhere else.”

As if telling them to leave quickly, he waved the staff he was holding.

Seeing that, Gu Yangcheon stepped forward and said,

“We’re not fighting. I have some business with you, Elder-“

“I have none.”

Geobuk cut him off firmly and started to go back inside, but

Kkwaak-!

“…Huh?”

Gu Yangcheon caught the door just as it was closing. Seeing that, Geobuk gasped.

Caught it?

“You rascal. How could you…”

“That thing from last time. Could you do it again?”

“What?”

“The ears and tail.”

At Gu Yangcheon’s words, Geobuk examined him.

Come to think of it, the things he’d painstakingly attached were all gone.

“…What the? Where did they go?”

Seeing that, Geobuk was flustered.

Only a day had passed.

They should have lasted at least three days, but they disappeared already?

“Ah, that.”

At Geobuk’s words, Gu Yangcheon chuckled sheepishly and said,

“I was just touching them yesterday… and accidentally released them.”

“What?”

Released? Released what?

Geobuk, unable to comprehend, asked again,

“You mean they came undone?”

He had warned that they would come undone if too much force was applied, so it seemed they had come undone somehow.

That was also a bit strange.

He had made sure they wouldn’t come undone unless under extreme circumstances.

And ‘extreme circumstances’ meant the Sect Leader of Huasan. That crazy bastard was the benchmark.

Correcting him, Gu Yangcheon waved his hand.

“Ah, no, I released them.”

“…Re…leased them?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

That wasn’t something made to be released just by willing it.

It was a type of curse he himself had created.

It wasn’t something one could undo just by wanting to.

But he undid it?

Geobuk asked, utterly unable to understand. Gu Yangcheon, perhaps thinking he knew what was coming, awkwardly stuck out his tongue and said,

“No… I thought it would be useful if I knew how to do it, so I tried to figure it out… but when I touched it a little, it came undone. Hahahahaha…”

“…”

Hearing that, Geobuk had no choice but to stare at Gu Yangcheon like he was a lunatic.

Touched it and it came undone?

His curse?

That’s impossible.

“Impossible. That’s not something that comes undone just by touching it.”

“That’s what I’m saying. It wasn’t supposed to come undone, but I released it… So I was wondering if you could do it again, Elder…”

“…No.”

What is he saying so nonchalantly?

Geobuk had a mouthful of things he wanted to point out, but he stopped himself.

He realized it belatedly.

‘Right, how should I judge that monster?’

What was standing before him.

It was something even he couldn’t judge.

Just like he told the Sect Leader, it was a fine line.

If that thing deviated even slightly, it would overflow.

A disaster no one could stop.

Frankly, it was strange that it was contained at all.

He couldn’t comprehend it with his common sense.

However, if he absolutely had to find a possible reason…

‘The quality of the soul.’

A soul that shone far brighter than anyone else’s.

A vessel and radiance strong enough to negate the rules.

The person himself didn’t seem to know it, but Geobuk knew better than anyone.

‘What a shame.’

That’s why it was even more regrettable.

‘If only he had been born in my world.’

If that monster had been born in my place, not somewhere else.

Wouldn’t there have been a little hope?

Such thoughts flashed through his mind, but

“…The Sect Leader’s request ended yesterday. Get lost.”

It was a pointless fantasy. Geobuk shook his head and put force into closing the door again.

But.

“…”

“…”

The door didn’t budge an inch. Even forcing it with trembling effort changed nothing.

Finally, Geobuk shouted at Gu Yangcheon.

“Hey, let go!”

“If I let go, you won’t do it. Please do it for me. You didn’t look like you were struggling yesterday.”

“You damn punk?”

Geobuk’s face turned bright red.

His way of getting on people’s nerves resembled someone else perfectly. Terrifyingly so.

While they were arguing like that for a while, Gu Bong belatedly approached and tried to stop Gu Yangcheon.

“My lord…! What are you doing to the Elder right now…!”

“No, are we just going to leave it like this? We can’t just leave it like this.”

“Where are you going this early in the morning?”

“Where else? I have to go where I went yesterday. Everything will be there.”

“…What do you mean? Are you saying you’re going back to Yagwol Palace?”

Gu Yangcheon frowned at Gu Bong’s words.

“Then why the hell do you think I’m doing all this? Do I look like I have nothing better to do?”

“…”

I wish he were just bored, Gu Bong thought to himself.

Gu Yangcheon silenced Gu Bong, then looked back at Geobuk.

“The Sect Leader approved this, so please do it for me?”

At Gu Yangcheon’s words, Geobuk frowned this time.

“The Sect Leader approved?”

“Yes. They told me to come pick it up, saying you’d do it if I came.”

What kind of ridiculous nonsense is this?

“Nonsense. The request clearly ended yesterday. The Sect Leader couldn’t possibly not know that?”

He was genuinely displeased.

There were lines that needed to be respected.

The Sect Leader wouldn’t cross it first. What did this mean?

This couldn’t be ignored. Geobuk immediately gripped his staff, about to yell at Gu Yangcheon, but

“Ah, but they said if you cast it just once, they’d extend the plum tea related matters for another month.”

“Is it three days again this time?”

“Huh? Ah, yes.”

With that sudden change in attitude, Gu Yangcheon looked at Geobuk with disbelief.

The force pushing the door was long gone.

What on earth is so special about plum tea?

It was just a decent tea, after all.

If it was going to be like this, I should have mentioned the plum tea from the start.

Geobuk busily picked up his staff.

“Do you not need that girl from last time?”

It was a question regarding Cheonma.

Hearing this, Gu Yangcheon nodded.

“Yes. I’m not taking her.”

I didn’t want to take her anyway, especially since she kept teasing me yesterday.

Fortunately, she wasn’t visible since this morning, wherever she went.

So, it seemed better to just leave her behind now.

“Hmm.”

Geobuk listened to the answer and moved his staff.

At that moment.

Dugeun-!

A strange energy brushed past his heart.

Gu Yangcheon focused on it.

It didn’t spread through his body.

It only gathered near his heart, spinning around.

It felt foreign.

It felt unpleasant, yet bearable.

After concentrating for a moment,

Saiaaaa-!!

He felt animal ears and a tail growing back on his body.

Unlike last time when they grew without him noticing, this time was different.

Soft.

Touching his ears, they felt the same as before.

Soft, soft.

He touched them several more times.

Gu Yangcheon seemed to be having fun touching them repeatedly. Geobuk watched him, waving his staff back and forth.

“It’s done. The precautions are the same as last time. Now go. Don’t come back-“

Just as he was about to issue a dismissal order, Geobuk stopped, seeing something.

Paaaaa-!!

Because the ears and tail that had appeared on Gu Yangcheon vanished instantly, like smoke.

“What–!”

Geobuk’s eyes widened like saucers seeing that.

Did he cast something wrong, causing the spell to unravel?

No.

‘He dispelled it.’

Gu Yangcheon had just dispelled the curse he’d cast, right then and there.

He knew now that Gu Yangcheon wasn’t lying about releasing it.

But after all the trouble of casting it, he just dispelled it?

“What has this punk done now….”

Geobuk was about to retort accusingly, but

“Ah. Got it. So this is how it’s done.”

Gu Yangcheon clapped his hands as if he’d realized something.

Jjak-!

Tuk.

“Huh…?”

Along with the clap, ears and a tail sprouted again.

It wasn’t something he had done.

“…You…”

Geobuk stammered, seemingly broken.

In contrast, Gu Yangcheon wore a rare, excited expression.

“Now I finally get it. Ah, I really felt like I’d understand after experiencing it just one more time. Perfect timing.”

“No.”

“Since I’ve learned it, I don’t think I need to come anymore. I’ll use it well. Thank you. Hey, let’s go.”

Gu Yangcheon, as if his lingering interest had vanished, stepped away from the door and approached Gu Bong.

“…”

Geobuk could only stare at Gu Yangcheon wordlessly.

His name was Sul (術).

He was the fallen king of sorcery.