Chapter 1038: The Divine Tree and the Master.

I approached the maru and sat beside her.

I didn’t look at her face. I just sat there as I was and stared straight ahead.

The scenery I saw from outside the dwelling.

The scenery seen from sitting on the maru is somehow different.

Seeing that, I vaguely realized.

‘It was made with calculation.’

The scenery I see.

That it was made, hoping someone would sit here.

Cultivated trees and a garden. A crudely made pond and colorful carp swimming within it.

A water wheel perfectly framed from where I sat, and even the valley flowing around it.

Everything is like a single painting.

And that.

‘So that it would look pretty specifically when sitting and looking from here.’

‘It was cultivated that way.’

So that the person looking would feel peaceful and also enriched.

‘It was cultivated while recalling that.’

It’s a scenery where such an intention feels particularly warm.

Whooosh.

The wind blew. My hair scattered, and leaves followed, drifting down in the air.

As I moved my eyes following that, my gaze naturally turned towards the air.

Light clouds were draped over the setting sun.

As I watched that calmly, there was one more thing I realized.

‘It doesn’t move.’

Not to mention the draped clouds, everything floating in the sky wasn’t moving.

Even though the wind was blowing this much.

‘I see.’

I nodded. I realized the truth contained within the scenery.

‘It’s a created space.’

Not something that actually exists, but a created place.

Whether it was the power of sorcery or something else, I couldn’t know.

‘This isn’t a real place.’

It meant it was an illusory space, nonexistent in the real world.

After realizing that, I looked at Cheonma.

She was looking straight ahead with eyes that seemed somewhat sleepy.

What were her purple pupils looking at? Though I unconsciously felt curious, I ignored it and called Cheonma.

“Hey.”

“Yeah.”

Cheonma answered without looking at me.

“Here, is this a place you made?”

Only after hearing the words that followed did her gaze turn towards me.

Why could that be? The moment our eyes met, I felt the urge to look away.

I don’t know the reason. It was just a fleeting thought.

Cheonma, having heard the words, answered without any change in expression.

“I don’t know.”

“…You don’t know?”

“Yeah. I don’t know.”

“Then. What is this place?”

Does she use it without even knowing what it is? That she’d deliberately open a dimension and not even know what the destination is.

I couldn’t understand.

Furthermore.

‘Why didn’t Cheonma want to show me this place?’

Why on earth did Cheonma from my past life hate showing this place?

At best, it’s just a place with a decorated garden and a single dwelling.

“This is home.”

To the question of what it was, Cheonma’s answer was the same as what I’d heard before arriving.

“Home…”

Of course, I could see that. Anyone could tell it was a house.

“That’s not what I was asking.”

“Then?”

“I’m asking what this place is for.”

What purpose did this place serve? That was the question. Recalling Cheonma’s words, it seemed she entered this space when I wasn’t around, or usually wasn’t here.

‘It was like that in my past life too.’

The purple demonic mirror gate.

Cheonma comes to mind, emerging after tearing through that dimension. I vividly remember the sight of her walking out of the dimension, displaying a bearing more noble and arrogant than anyone else’s.

‘Is it possible that such a Cheonma’s actual place was here?’

It didn’t fit.

It was a space completely unfitting for the being I knew.

A fallen ruin. Under a sky that was crushed and dried up.

Supreme being.

Cheonma was the one who stood above all demonic beings, reigning over the sky.

Even the so-called Three Lords of the Central Plains’ sky fell desperately, unable to do anything about her.

‘…She made a place like this behind the dimension?’

I couldn’t understand it at all.

‘Perhaps, did this too change in this life?’

Could it be that the place Cheonma occupied in the past life and the dimension the current Cheonma opens are different?

That was the most plausible explanation.

If not that…

‘For what purpose.’

For what purpose did Cheonma come and go from this place? I couldn’t know.

Just then.

“Longing.”

Cheonma said, looking at me.

“Longing?”

“Longing.”

“What does that mean?”

“This place… is longing.”

Longing? What a nonsensical thing to say. Frowning, I looked around.

The prettily decorated garden and the seemingly old, maintained dwelling.

This place is longing? And what about the flowers planted here?

They were definitely not things that would have been planted naturally.

“Did you decorate the garden?”

“No.”

“Then who did? Was it always like this?”

“I don’t know.”

“…What are you talking about? Are we even having a conversation?”

There isn’t a single proper answer.

Exasperated, I glared at Cheonma. Maybe she just didn’t intend to answer at all.

‘Right. She’s the weird one.’

I didn’t know the principle or purpose behind this space’s creation, but I concluded that this life and the past life must be completely different.

That made sense.

‘That Cheonma couldn’t possibly have been in a place like this.’

She was someone who gave me chills just thinking about her, exuding a terrifying presence.

I didn’t know why she’d become such an idiot in this life, but she wasn’t the type to stay in a place like this.

‘At the very least, ‘longing’?’

The way she expressed it was ambiguous.

What could she possibly be longing for?

And even if she did long for something, there was no reason to long for a space like this, not a person.

I stood up.

“Going inside?”

“Ah.”

As I tried to enter the dwelling, Cheonma widened her eyes and let out a single exclamation. What was that? Was she telling me not to go in?

If that were the case, I looked at Cheonma, intending not to go in, but she merely glanced at me for a moment and said nothing more.

Was it permission? Passing the maru, I headed inside the dwelling. The building wasn’t large.

Even among the residences of noble families, it was on the smaller side.

It was smaller than my own dwelling, which was situated within it.

If there were rooms, maybe barely two?

It was a tiny dwelling.

Looking at it, I grabbed and opened the door.

Creak.

The door opened without needing much force.

The interior came into view. The room was slightly tinged with orange by the revealed sunset light.

‘There’s nothing particularly unusual.’

The interior looked like something you’d see anywhere. The unmade bedding was the first thing I noticed.

One set of unfolded bedding.

It was large enough for two people to sleep together.

Traces suggested someone had been lying there until just now.

‘There was no warmth.’

Only remaining traces. On the small table next to it, two teacups were visible.

I approached and examined them. A little unfinished tea remained in each cup.

‘One was empty, and one had some left.’

Looking at the dwelling, it seemed like a place where two people lived. The arrangement of furniture and the traces suggested just that.

Since Cheonma herself called it home, it seemed like a place she frequented.

Then…

‘Who was the other person?’

Who else stayed here?

I couldn’t know. I looked around the inside further.

It was truly an unremarkable room. As I was looking around here and there like that.

‘Hmm?’

I saw a drawer. Normally, I wouldn’t have thought to open even the closed places.

‘What is it?’

As soon as I saw it, I felt the urge to open it.

No, I felt like I absolutely had to open it.

So I reached out and grabbed the drawer.

Click.

I grabbed and opened the drawer. As it opened, what was inside vaguely appeared.

‘Clothes?’

They were neatly folded clothes. But.

‘They’re small?’

Their size was unusually small. Ridiculously insufficient for an adult to wear.

If that’s the case, it naturally meant they weren’t clothes for an adult.

That means…

‘Are they children’s clothes?’

Small clothes, the kind kids would wear. Among them, they looked like clothes for a very young child, maybe not even five or six years old.

Moreover.

‘They were unfinished.’

The thread ends, cut off without being tied, suggested she might have been making them herself.

Meaning, they were incomplete.

Recalling that, I reached out my hand to touch the clothes.

Thump-!

The drawer closed, blocking my hand. I glanced over and saw it was Cheonma.

“Not here.”

It was a firm statement. Hearing that, I calmly looked at Cheonma.

She seemed somewhat desperate, just to block some clothes.

It felt like something she shouldn’t show.

‘It’s just clothes.’

They were still just clothes. Moreover, clothes left unfinished, unable to even be completed.

I wondered if there was any particular reason to block this, but…

‘Conversely.’

I have no reason to check specifically either.

Recalling that, I stepped back slightly.

“Alright. Sorry for looking.”

“…”

Cheonma nodded at my words. Turning my back, I went outside the dwelling.

There was nothing more to see, besides…

‘I didn’t want to be here.’

I didn’t want to stay in this space for long. I ran my hand down my chest.

It felt suffocating. Suffocating and heavy.

And cold.

I shouldn’t be here any longer. That feeling rose up to the back of my throat.

It was a strange feeling. Why was I feeling this way?

That’s why. As soon as I came out of the dwelling and reached the yard, I asked Cheonma.

“Hey.”

“Yeah.”

“Here. Have I ever been here before?”

“…”

Hearing my words, Cheonma paused.

I didn’t miss that reaction.

“What’s with that reaction? I asked if I’ve ever been here before!”

It was an absurd question.

I knew better than anyone that I hadn’t been here. Not in my past life, nor in this one.

I have never been to this place.

Besides, even if I asked Cheonma now, she couldn’t possibly know.

“I… I know this place, right?”

Even though I knew it all, I asked Cheonma.

“Answer me.”

“…”

Unbelievably, Cheonma didn’t answer.

Why couldn’t she answer? Why was I asking this?

Even I couldn’t understand it, but…

The words had already burst out of my mouth.

“What is this place? Why do I know this place?”

Crack-!

I grabbed Cheonma’s shoulder.

A shoulder so small and delicate it fit entirely in one hand.

Feeling that, I asked, glaring.

Cheonma averted her eyes.

And then, just as she was about to slowly speak, mumbling with her lips.

“You can’t.”

Whack-!

“…!?”

Cheonma’s face hardened, then she slapped my hand away and grabbed her own neck.

“What the?”

She’s suddenly grabbing her own neck?

I stared at her with bewildered eyes.

“You shouldn’t get greedy, right?”

Cheonma said.

I wondered if she was talking to me, but it didn’t seem like it.

“This is something you can’t do.”

Cheonma said that, smiling slightly.

Seeing that sent shivers down my spine.

‘That smile.’

My eyes widened.

A smiling expression, eyes that formed it.

‘Could that possibly be…?’

My body was about to freeze at the thought that came to mind.

At that moment.

“I’ll see you later.”

Cheonma smiled and pointed a finger at me.

KUGUGUGU–!

“Damn it-!”

As the dimension shattered, my body was swept away.

KUGUGUNG—!

Although I tried to escape somehow, by the time I realized it…

Swaaaaa-.

I was back at the place where the Divine Tree of Maryeongdong was.

More precisely, I had returned to the place where I was talking with Cheonma.

“Haa… ha…”

My body was filled with heat, and I was sweating profusely.

The eyes and smile surfaced in my head.

That was definitely…

“…Cheonma?”

Not the clueless woman I’d seen in this life.

It was the Cheonma who reigned like a disaster in my past life.