Chapter 1126: Scorched World.

“…….”

I responded with silence to the question of whether I was the same. It was rather abrupt, and I couldn’t figure out how to answer.

‘Same?’

How should I understand that? Just as I was momentarily bewildered.

“No?”

Mother asked.

“……What are you talking about?”

I chose to ask directly.

Then Mother tilted her head and spoke.

“……Isn’t it? It’s not, but it is.”

“What is.”

Even when I asked again, there was no answer. Then, she suddenly thrust her head towards me. Although I tried to back away in surprise, I was sitting perched on a tree, so I couldn’t retreat.

Keunkeun.

Mother came closer and sniffed me.

“……Why are you doing this?”

“You don’t smell.”

“That’s probably because I wash well.”

“……No, you don’t.”

“……You don’t?”

That’s quite rude? If there was one thing I cared about, it was cleanliness.

No. That’s not the important part.

“……How did you get here?”

Mother, who should have been at the Murim Alliance’s Anhui branch, why was she here? Her sudden appearance was baffling.

“What about Miss Mi?”

“Hyoran doesn’t know. I came secretly.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re here. You’d hate it if we came together.”

“…….”

I narrowed my eyes. Mother, with a blank expression, pointed out the crucial part.

You’d hate it if we came together.

That means.

‘Does she know I don’t want this condition revealed?’

The Master of Myriad Worlds. It seemed she knew, even if I were a blank slate rather than in that state back then.

“……Then how did you know I was here?”

“I felt it.”

“You felt it?”

“Yeah. I felt it.”

Kuk.

Mother suddenly poked my forehead with her finger.

“You’re like me. You’re here.”

“What the……”

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“…….”

Her words kept changing abruptly.

“……As you can see, I’m not.”

“Really? That’s a relief.”

The fingers poking my forehead moved slightly upward. Then she opened her hand.

Seukseuk.

And stroked my hair.

“You did well. You really did.”

“…….”

My body stiffened at the unexpected action. Mother moved her hand diligently, as if genuinely praising me.

“No……”

I tried to relax my stiff body and move her hand away. Honestly, though, I didn’t really want to push her hand away. But I couldn’t help it.

‘This is difficult.’

Each of these things could become a problem. It was right to preemptively block any affection that might arise. Although I wondered if affection could really arise from something so trivial, it was better to be safe than sorry.

So, as I tried to move her hand away, Mother withdrew hers.

“It’s fine as long as you’re not hurt. I’m leaving?”

“……Huh?”

She’s leaving just like this? Since she appeared and disappeared like the wind, I unconsciously grabbed her wrist.

“Hm? Why?”

Caught, Mother asked.

“No…… is whether we’re the same or not really not that important?”

“Then what is?”

“Are we the same or not?”

“…….”

“See?”

Mother, still speaking, laughed.

“You can’t say it. Then it’s fine.”

The strength in my hand slowly released. Freed from my grip, Mother put her hands behind her back and skipped away cheerfully. Soon, she vanished beyond the forest in an instant.

“Hah.”

Left alone, I sighed as if I had seen a ghost.

What was that?

‘Same?’

I kept replaying Mother’s parting words in my head. Same. Those words, ‘same.’ Troubled by that, I closed my eyes again. What did she mean by ‘same’? What had Mother, who seemed to know nothing, seen in me? I thought about it, but.

‘……What am I thinking? It’s obvious.’

The answer was already there anyway.

‘Master.’

Something that should have become the world’s disaster and its master. She must have meant that by saying ‘same.’

---

After briefly resting my fatigue, I immediately headed back to my destination. The power of the net was starting to wear off, and I had to return to where I was before that happened. So, I used my strength somewhat hastily to return. It was because I judged it right to pick up the pace, and that judgment was correct.

‘Whoa, that was close.’

As I entered while suppressing my presence, the power wore off just like that.

“Waaaaaaah! We’re alive!”

Cheers could still be heard. Whether everyone was filled with the fervor of survival, or the reverence of having blocked the White Demonic Gate, I didn’t know, but thanks to that, I could enter easily.

“Everyone worked hard.”

Meanwhile, Namgung Jeohui was at the forefront, saying something.

“……Thanks to everyone’s hard work, we were able to protect the safety of Anhu and Namgung. Regarding this, I, the family head……”

Look at him speaking earnestly with a proud face. Seeing that, I chuckled.

‘This guy doesn’t seem entirely incompetent.’

When I saved him from being easily defeated by a demonic creature, his expression was blank. But now that the situation was over, he was acting all high and mighty. Although it was unsightly to see, it also meant he had some ability to control the situation.

‘Hoo.’

I left them to their own devices and moved on. Because I had to find someone else anyway. After moving for a short while, I saw the people I was looking for. They were members of the Azure Dragon Unit.

“Ah, you were here.”

As I appeared scratching the back of my head, the woman in front, So-i, glared at me.

“……Baek Yangcheon.”

Her expression was quite menacing.

“Where on earth did you go?”

“Ah. I was in that corner over there.”

“……You weren’t visible during the battle?”

“There are so many people; you might not have seen everyone.”

“…….”

Every time So-i spoke, her expression grew more displeased. I thought her favorability towards me might have increased after she said she’d stay last time, but it seemed it had hit rock bottom this time.

‘Well, yeah.’

After all, she said she’d fight but then disappeared.

‘But what could I do?’

The power of the net was merely the materialization of illusions; it wasn’t helpful in combat. It was just a means to provide the justification that I was nearby. Therefore, in So-i’s eyes, I must have looked like I hadn’t fought and had just come from hiding somewhere. So, I understood why she was glaring at me like that.

Of course.

‘Even so, there’s nothing I can do about it.’

There was nothing I could do just because she looked at me that way.

‘I was busy cleaning up my own mess, too.’

I moved with great difficulty, cleaning up the mess I made. I did everything I could, wanting to minimize casualties, but I didn’t have the intention to manage So-i’s feelings.

“You……”

Just as So-i was about to say something while looking at me.

“Baek Yangcheon.”

This time, my father, who had been sitting, stepped forward.

“Yes. Unit Leader.”

“…….”

Upon my reply, Father approached me. He clearly seemed to be thinking about something. Then, after a brief moment.

“Did you see that guy?”

“That guy? Ah.”

I nodded, understanding what he meant.

“I did. The one wearing that strange mask. Aren’t you talking about him?”

“That’s right.”

“It was impossible not to see him. But why?”

With an attitude questioning why he’d ask such a thing, Father said.

“Was there anything you felt?”

He posed the question to me.

“Huh?”

Anything I felt?

“……Specifically, what kind?”

“It’s a question of whether you felt anything, anything at all.”

“……Uh. Not really? Just that he was a strange guy?”

“…….”

Father frowned slightly, perhaps finding my answer unsatisfactory, but.

“I see.”

As if he had no more questions, he turned his back and walked away. He looked somewhat tired. Is he tired?

‘It’s probably not an issue of energy.’

Father hadn’t used much energy. It seemed something was weighing heavily on his mind. If that something was weighing on him, it was probably…….

‘The part where he asked if I was the previous family head.’

Asking if I was the previous head of the Gu family while looking at me, who was pretending to be the Heavenly Demon. That was likely the reason for Father’s condition.

‘Hmm.’

That bothers me too. Naturally. Because I was also a member of the Gu family. ‘Especially since I now know what the family heads are supposed to do.’ Seeing that made me firm up my resolve.

‘It seems.’

I wanted to visit the Gu family in Shanxi of this era. I solidified that desire.

---

The sun set. After the White-grade demonic creature’s annihilation, the Demonic Gate disappearing, and finally, by this point, the complete subjugation was proven. Only then did people begin to relax their anxious minds and start holding a feast. The feast hosted by the Namgung family was much noisier than before.

“Wahaha-!”

Not only were the cheers louder, but people were continuously indulging in drinking. And on top of that.

“Just who could that person have been?”

“……You mean the black-clad warrior?”

Naturally, I was the center of attention at the feast. The being who suddenly appeared and subjugated the Red and White demonic creatures. With the appearance of such an impossibly skilled expert, everyone was talking about it while enjoying the feast.

‘……Ugh.’

I slipped away because I didn’t want to hear it. There was nothing for me to do at the feast anyway. And I wasn’t the type to mingle and do anything there. I was about to head to my quarters to rest, satisfied that things were concluded. But then.

“Ah, you’re here.”

“……?”

Someone was in my quarters. The handsome man shamelessly lying on the bed. It was Namgung Hyung.

“……What is this now?”

Why is this guy here again? As I looked at him strangely.

“Ah, it’s nothing much. You remember what happened last time, right?”

“Last time?”

“The thing where I asked you to do me a favor.”

“……Ah.”

I remembered. Namgung Hyung had asked me to take his side instead of keeping quiet, or something like that.

“……Why that?”

But why was he bringing it up now? As I stared at him strangely.

“Because I need it now?”

Namgung Hyung said to me with a smile.

“I’d like you to help me out a bit.”

“……Right now?”

“Yeah. Now. Now is the perfect time.”

“What on earth are you trying to……”

Are you bringing this up in the middle of the feast? Just as I was about to ask that. Namgung Hyung’s words reached me first.

“I’m planning to run away from home starting now? Help me.”

“…….”

At those words, I scowled deeply.