Ch.75Chapter 75 – Everyone’s Prayer (2)

Han Do-hyeon arrived at a small playground, the only one in the slum neighborhood, after fleeing from his father’s domestic violence.

The playground had a tire swing and metal bars. It was clearly poorly maintained, with rust covering most of the equipment.

“So Azazel, is that person really our master?” Verdandi asked.

As she looked at Han Do-hyeon sitting alone and sprawled out, Verdandi noticed something strange.

His face resembled her master Bing-yeon, and his aura felt similar, but something was off.

“…This boy seems to have lived such an unfortunate life. How could he possibly be our master?”

Having witnessed the boy’s father’s verbal and physical abuse, Verdandi couldn’t help but draw parallels to her own past.

She remembered how her own mother had tried to strangle her to death when she was just an infant.

“According to Morgidian, that boy is indeed the previous life of my brother,” Azazel replied.

Azazel shook her head at Verdandi’s words. The direction of her tentacles remained unchanged. Moreover, no matter how hard she tried to make eye contact with the boy, she couldn’t see his future.

Both circumstantial and physical evidence pointed to him being Bing-yeon’s past life.

“Something’s wrong! He’s just a boy who lived a life similar to mine…! Our master, who always showed us strength and kindness, couldn’t possibly have lived such a sad life!”

Verdandi shouted toward Azazel and Bi-wol.

She had tried her best to stop Do-hyeon’s father, whom she considered evil, but since they couldn’t change the past, it was hard for her to accept the truth.

“Perhaps it’s precisely because he lived such a sad life that he came to save you and us.”

Bi-wol spoke as she slowly approached Han Do-hyeon, who was writing something. There was a hint of sadness in her eyes.

“Hello, little one. What’s your name?”

Bi-wol gently wiped away the black-haired boy’s tears as she asked for his name, as if they had never met before.

“Han Do-hyeon…”

Unlike the others in this strange space, Han Do-hyeon could perceive them. The boy nodded as he stated his name.

“Your body is covered in bruises and wounds. Aren’t you in pain? Can you tell this big sister what happened?”

Bi-wol carefully examined Do-hyeon’s body. He was so battered that not a single part of him seemed unharmed.

His eyes were bruised, his knees and elbows were scraped and bleeding, and glass shards were embedded in his feet.

“Dad said I shouldn’t talk to strangers…”

Despite his pain, Han Do-hyeon remained cautious with his words. His father had brainwashed him to prevent him from reporting the domestic violence.

That it was all his fault, and he was being punished because he had done something wrong.

“It’s okay. We know you very well.”

Bi-wol couldn’t help but sigh at the sight.

She could tell that, similar to her own past, the parents were desperate to exploit their child.

“Really…?”

“Yes. Sister, would you mind healing our master?”

Bi-wol nodded to Do-hyeon and asked Verdandi to use healing magic on him.

The hero’s magic could heal any wound as if it had never existed.

“…Understood! Bright light that heals wounds, repel the red and bring forth new life! Healing!”

Verdandi approached Do-hyeon, took his hand, and began chanting healing magic. With a bright light, the boy’s wounds slowly began to heal.

“Huh…? The wounds disappeared?”

Han Do-hyeon couldn’t believe his eyes at this surreal sight. It was as if he had met real magicians.

“Can you tell us now? We’re not here to hurt you. We actually came to save you.”

Bi-wol stroked Do-hyeon’s head and spoke slowly in a reassuring tone, but the boy continued to tremble.

“…How can I trust you?”

“You don’t have to trust us, young brother.”

At that moment, Azazel, who had been standing at a distance, stepped forward toward Han Do-hyeon, clasping her hands in front of her chest in prayer.

“True faith should spring from a pure heart. This is what you taught me when I was blinded by misguided love.”

Looking at the young Han Do-hyeon, Azazel felt a sense of déjà vu. Like her past self, he feared abandoning what he thought was parental love, despite its toxicity.

“Are you a nun…? Are you from a church?”

“Yes, I am Azazel Blackheart, your saintess, brother.”

Azazel lied to reassure Han Do-hyeon. This was completely opposite to her usual behavior of blindly following and believing only in Morgidian.

– Azazel… Is that your choice?

“Yes, shouldn’t we at least try talking first? We’ve been hiding too much from each other all this time.”

Azazel responded to Morgidian’s telepathic concern with a gentle smile. No matter what wrongs had been committed, sharing the truth with each other should come first.

That was the love and compassion Azazel had received from Bing-yeon.

“So, could you share your worries and concerns with me? We’re begging you.”

The three girls stood before Han Do-hyeon, waiting for his answer. To an outsider, it might have looked like a master surrounded by disciples.

“If… if you’re a nun… then you must be from a church…”

Only after the saintess Azazel appeared did Han Do-hyeon finally begin to speak. It seemed her nun’s habit had earned his trust.

“…Dad beat me, saying it was all my fault that my brother died.”

Han Do-hyeon slowly revealed the truth to them.

“He said my brother was hit by a car at a crosswalk while rushing to meet me…”

A traffic accident.

For Han Do-hyeon, it was an indelible trauma. Later, his girlfriend Yoo Seol-hwa would suffer the same tragic fate in a similar accident.

“My brother was the only family member who supported my writing… And I… I… was so useless…”

Han Do-hyeon’s voice broke with sobs. All the resentment and injustice he had endured was finally pouring out.

“It’s all my fault…”

“No. You did nothing wrong.”

Bi-wol embraced Han Do-hyeon, trying to comfort him. She had thought the same way when she was captured by the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect.

That her friends died and were experimented on because she hadn’t become a Heavenly Demon.

“…When people have no one to hate, they end up hurting themselves. It’s those people who did wrong, not you.”

– You’ve done nothing wrong, Bi-wol. When people have no one to hate, they end up hurting themselves.

Bi-wol repeated the words Bing-yeon had once said to her. She could tell it had taken him a lot of soul-searching to reach such a conclusion.

“Really…?”

“That’s right! Your father is the bad person! How could he not worry about his child who’s covered in wounds!”

“If there’s any fault with you, brother, it’s simply that this cold world fails to recognize your worth.”

Verdandi and Azazel joined in supporting Bi-wol’s words. It made no sense to burden such a young boy with responsibility for his brother’s death.

“My brother was the hope of our poor family. From a young age, he was called a prodigy, winning awards and receiving endless praise from teachers…”

Han Do-hyeon wiped his tears with both hands and began to share more.

His brother had monopolized their parents’ expectations and represented hope for escaping poverty. Do-hyeon had lived in his brother’s shadow.

“If only I hadn’t gone to meet him that day…”

“Your brother wouldn’t want you to suffer. He was just running a little faster to see you.”

“Yes, the light was definitely green… it was green… but a truck hit him and drove away…”

As Bi-wol and the others embraced and comforted Han Do-hyeon, he stopped crying a bit and revealed everything.

“…Now I understand a little why our master was so desperate to save us.”

“He probably couldn’t bear to see anyone else die before his eyes. We had such a rule in our Ice Dragon Fate Sect.”

“…So why did the Outer God want to show us this past?”

While Bi-wol and the other disciples were talking while embracing Han Do-hyeon, she suddenly noticed the notebook he had been clutching earlier.

“Maybe because of this?”

Bi-wol instinctively swallowed hard as she looked at the worn notebook titled “Diamond Fist King.” She sensed that opening it would lead to a point of no return.

Just then,

“Big sister, what’s your name…?”

“…I’m Bi-wol. The ‘Bi’ means to fly, and ‘Wol’ means moon.”

Suddenly asking for Bi-wol’s name, Han Do-hyeon’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You’re exactly like the protagonist I imagined…! The name I came up with while looking at the moon rising over this neighborhood!”