Chapter 1025: The Divine Tree and the Master.

When did I start feeling something was off?

If I had to pinpoint the exact time, I couldn’t.

Rather than a specific trigger or moment, it was purely a discomfort stemming from instinct.

‘They’re hiding something.’

Yeongnyeong.

She was hiding something from me.

I could distinctly feel it.

‘Explaining their situation didn’t seem problematic, though.’

The situation they were in, the process. The way they explained it all while asking for my help seemed fine, but…

‘Something feels off.’

My gut felt inexplicably uneasy.

‘What is it? What are they hiding?’

I felt they were hiding something, but I didn’t know what. I wondered if it might just be my imagination, but…

‘No.’

It wasn’t. I was certain.

‘There’s something.’

Yeongnyeong, or perhaps Maryeong-dong, had something going on. That’s why I acted the way I did towards Yeongnyeong.

‘I don’t do rescues without compensation.’ Honestly, I would have said the same thing normally, but…

‘The fact that they’re acting weird makes me act this way too.’

As doubts and suspicions sprouted, I realized I needed a way to observe their attitude more closely.

‘…Indeed.’

What did those guys expect me to do? And furthermore…

‘What are you hiding from me?’

What were they trying to pull off after hiding something so carefully?

While I was curious about that, if I secretly wished for anything…

‘I hoped it would be for the worst, if possible.’

I hoped whatever Yeongnyeong was planning wouldn’t be good for me. Why would I wish for bad things to happen? I’m not some pervert, you see.

‘Because then I could dispose of them without hesitation.’

So I could use them and get rid of them without any pointless guilt.

I wished they’d all have some nasty intentions towards me.

Wouldn’t that make it easier for me to use them?

‘Forget salvation or whatever. I’m the one in more need.’

The reason I left Yeongnyeong with that last remark must have been related to Mother’s workplace. Did Mother judge that I could save Maryeong-dong? Or perhaps…

‘What arrangements did she hide within it?’

Was there some other meaning hidden there?

I couldn’t know yet.

‘Salvation, my ass.’

I’m barely managing to save myself right now. The idea that I had to save someone else was absurd.

Yeongnyeong had said.

‘Maryeong-dong is a place where those who couldn’t escape Maryeong Mountain gather.’

So, why couldn’t they escape Maryeong Mountain?

Was this purely the Master’s will?

Or perhaps…

‘Is it the leader’s problem?’

If it’s the Master’s will, there’s nothing I can do about it. But if the leader here is the problem…

‘That’s manageable.’

This was still acceptable. After all, it would just mean dealing with the leader.

If that solved it, it wouldn’t be a bad thing…

“Tsk.”

Dealing with the leader. I clicked my tongue upon that thought.

“What’s wrong?”

Cheonma tilted her head, asking about my action.

“…It’s nothing.”

I brushed off the answer and ran a hand through my hair. There was still one lingering unease.

‘It’s a pointless thought.’

I tried hard to ignore it, but it kept circling in my mind.

And that was…

‘The fact that the leader, regardless, is Mother’s subordinate.’

Dealing with the leader, who reigned as a general, ultimately meant killing Mother’s subordinate.

That part kept bothering me.

‘As for Yusa, I dealt with him because he was aiming for Mother’s position anyway.’

The leader was a different story.

He seemed genuinely loyal to the Master of Man-gye.

Thinking that made the unease even stronger.

‘Am I feeling guilty now, of all times?’

It was far too late to feel such things, yet pointless hesitation restricted my actions.

That hesitation caused problems when dealing with the leader.

‘If I had intended to kill him from the start, I would have approached it differently.’

Not in a narrow sense of ‘finding out,’ but if I had intended to find and kill him from the beginning, there were many better ways.

‘There would have been no need for ‘information gathering’ or anything.’

I would have used every means possible to deal with him.

‘In the end, it turned out well, but…’

Because I found out someone else was hiding besides the leader. Not doing so was ultimately closer to a good outcome.

However.

‘The important thing is that my own feelings didn’t align with that.’

Leaving the outcome aside, seeing that my mindset ultimately couldn’t align…

‘This isn’t easy.’

I needed to firmly establish my direction for the future.

“Hmm…”

I ran my hand through my hair and focused my gaze.

Ultimately, considering the arrangements Mother left behind, it was something I didn’t need to worry about, yet…

‘What a damn worry.’

I didn’t quite understand myself why I was hesitating over something that bothered me so much.

I looked up at the sky.

‘There’s still time.’

It was a time when even the sunset hadn’t begun. There was still plenty of time before the leader would wake up.

In that case…

“For now, maybe I’ll look around a bit more.”

I needed to make the most of the time, just in case I could figure out what I hadn’t grasped.

---

As the crimson sky faded and the sunset drew nearer.

I sat perched on a rocky mountain, unable to hide my thoroughly displeased expression.

Unlike my hope that I might find something more, damn it, I hadn’t discovered anything at all.

“Seriously, there’s f*ing nothing here.”

There’s a limit to how much nothingness there can be, but this is just too much.

I’d spent several hours searching, but it was no different from an empty wasteland.

No, it would have been better if it were just an empty wasteland. This was worse.

“Haa.”

I couldn’t tell if it was because I couldn’t find it, or if this damn land was just strange.

“Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue briefly and got up.

There was no point in staying any longer, and it was about time to head back.

“Hey.”

I called out to Cheonma, who was beside me.

Cheonma was also sitting quietly on a nearby rock, moving her legs.

“Yeah.”

Cheonma responded to my call. I looked at her and said,

“…Do you see anything?”

I wondered if Cheonma might be able to see something. I asked, hoping she might have, but…

“Huh?”

At my words, Cheonma just tilted her head.

Narrowing my eyes at her reaction, I said,

“No, I mean, haven’t you seen anything?”

“I only looked at you.”

“…You damn… You didn’t just stare at me all day, did you?”

“… “

“No. Ah, forget it.”

I waved my hands dismissively. Talking to her any further would just give me a headache. Judging by her reaction, it seemed Cheonma hadn’t seen anything either.

“…Let’s head back for now.”

“Okay.”

Hearing me, Cheonma hopped off the rock she was sitting on and landed on the ground. Watching her, I turned my back.

First, I had to return to Maryeong-dong.

---

I returned to Maryeong-dong once more.

As I entered through the entrance Yeongnyeong had shown me, the soldiers briefly showed a guarded stance, but upon mentioning Yeongnyeong’s name, they opened the way immediately as if nothing had happened.

I passed through the heavy iron gate and entered. Inside, the situation was the same as when I had left earlier.

The difference was that since it was sunset outside, the scenery inside was changing just the same.

Since the ceiling was effectively blocked by a spell mimicking rocks, it was perhaps natural that it changed along with the sky.

‘How do they utilize this?’

I wondered about the principle behind how it was invisible from the outside but appeared so transparent from within.

With such curiosity in mind, my steps continued forward. Before I knew it, I had reached my destination.

“You have arrived…”

Yeongnyeong, looking somewhat exhausted, was waiting for us.

“Have you been well?”

As I asked with a smile, Yeongnyeong bowed her head. As she lowered her head, her veil fluttered. Through the fluttering gap, her face was glimpsed for just a moment.

I didn’t look particularly surprised or intrigued. After all, it was something I vaguely already knew.

“I greet the Great Being…”

“Save the pleasantries. So, what happened with what I mentioned earlier?”

“…”

What compensation could you offer me, who will work for you?

At those words, Yeongnyeong fell silent for a moment. I approached slowly, observing her reaction. I passed the water’s edge and climbed the hill. And thus, I reached the Sacred Tree.

I still didn’t touch it. I merely looked up at it.

The blackened, scorched Sacred Tree. It gave the impression of having burned.

Wouldn’t I feel some change if I touched it right now? Since I came here wanting this, shouldn’t I just touch it? Such thoughts flashed through my mind, but I held back.

“Yeongnyeong.”

“Yes… Great Being.”

“Tell me what you’ve prepared.”

“…!”

At my words, Yeongnyeong flinched. She seemed surprised. Was she wondering how I knew she had thought of something? This wasn’t something to be surprised about.

‘I can tell just from the reaction.’

If she hadn’t thought of anything, she wouldn’t react like that. Yeongnyeong’s reaction seemed as if she had been waiting for me. When I thought back to our conversation earlier today. If she was waiting for me, the reason must be…

“Right. What did you prepare?”

“…”

Yeongnyeong had prepared something to give me. If not, she would have at least thought of something. Judging this, I asked,

“…Great Being.”

Yeongnyeong spoke to me in a somewhat subdued voice.

“There isn’t much that a frail and insignificant being like myself can offer the Great Being such as yourself…”

“Enough with the preamble, get to the point.”

I don’t need pointless modesty or beating around the bush. Cutting off Yeongnyeong’s words, I spoke. She paused for a moment, then reached into her bosom and pulled something out.

“Hm?”

Seeing it, I narrowed my eyes.

“…All we can offer is truly only this.”

The item Yeongnyeong carefully handed over. Seeing it, I had to let out a short exclamation of admiration.

“Oh?”

It was a fragment imbued with immense energy, an item called a relic left behind by the Master.