Chapter 216: Omen. (3)

Wi Seol-ah dreamed after a long time.

Dreams like this had often happened since meeting ‘Unnie’, but…

Today, it was a particularly vivid dream.

Perhaps it was the most vivid dream since that day long ago.

‘…Where…. Where am I?’

Wi Seol-ah had, by now, become somewhat accustomed to this hazy sensation.

Also the sensation of it not being her body.

And the world viewed from a third-person perspective.

Through several experiences, it meant she no longer felt much strangeness.

“Where are you?”

Wi Seol-ah reacted to someone’s voice.

It was a beautiful voice.

Wi Seol-ah knew whose voice it was.

“…I asked where you are.”

The woman, spitting out burning emotions without hiding them, seemingly calm.

Had a beautiful face that resembled her voice.

However, unlike her delicate appearance.

The place she was in was caked with dust.

It was a prison where not a single ray of sunlight entered.

The walls were covered in traces of torture.

Dried blood had hardened, giving off a chilling atmosphere just by looking at it.

Wi Seol-ah could tell just from this.

That this was, once again, a nightmare.

Like this, dreams featuring that woman were mostly nightmares for Wi Seol-ah.

Because people often died.

The woman killing someone.

Or someone dying for the woman.

The world collapsing.

Amidst it all, the woman stoically wielded her sword.

From Wi Seol-ah’s perspective, knowing her end like that, just watching it was like hell.

The woman did not cry.

Even when the one protecting her died.

Even when her beloved family died.

When colleagues died, and even when colleagues who turned into enemies died.

The woman simply continued to wield her sword stoically.

Wi Seol-ah thought that woman was a cold person.

Because if it were her, she didn’t think she could maintain such an expression in this situation.

Yet, that woman.

Was rarely showing her emotions.

‘Who is it…?’

It’s blurry.

The person the woman was looking at was not visible to Wi Seol-ah, appearing only blurry as if shrouded in fog.

Judging by the body, it seemed to be a man.

Despite the woman’s words, the man wasn’t giving any answer.

‘Is, is he dead…?’

Fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case, as the man was breathing very shallowly.

He seemed to be severely injured somewhere, his blood-stained appearance noticeable.

For some reason, it hurt her chest, and Wi Seol-ah had to bite her lip.

“You must know, right? Where the remaining Mind Demons went.”

As if not even caring about the man’s appearance, the woman just kept talking.

No.

Wi Seol-ah could tell.

The woman wasn’t indifferent to the man.

She was merely enduring it.

From her body, emotions like anger, regret, despair, and longing.

Emotions that couldn’t coexist were swirling.

Enduring all of them.

The woman was speaking to the man.

“To you…”

The woman speaking bit her lip momentarily.

“If you have even a shred of conscience left…”

The words that followed were somehow trembling slightly.

Was that anger?

Or perhaps pity?

Or maybe both?

The young Wi Seol-ah couldn’t grasp that much.

However, as if confirming the intense emotions.

-Grind.

It could be felt that the woman was clenching her fist tightly.

Blood dripped from the tightly clenched fist, but the woman seemed not to feel the pain.

“It’s your last chance. Everyone wishes for your death, but if you help just this once, I’ll bet everything I have and save your life.”

The woman’s voice began to tremble more and more.

Please tell me. I have to do this, somehow.

The woman’s heart was clearly screaming that.

So.

“…So please.”

She held back tightly, trying not to spit out the words.

Through her tightly clenched lips, the woman.

The man, having heard all the woman’s words, was still silent.

Or perhaps he couldn’t speak.

Just exhaling shallow breaths.

He merely looked at the woman, lifting his head.

With what kind of eyes, containing what emotions, was that man looking at the woman?

Wi Seol-ah wanted to see that, but couldn’t.

“So hurry and tell me. Where they are hiding.”

Saying that, the woman grabbed the man by the collar.

Please react somehow.

As if urging him to do something, the woman held back the words boiling inside her.

The man still said nothing.

Then, the woman moved the hand she was holding and threw the man to the floor.

He rolled hard on the stone floor because of that.

The man didn’t even let out a groan.

Still, he only showed an appearance of having given up on everything.

The woman, seeing that sight, said.

“If I had known you were such a despicable human, I would have killed you the moment I first saw you.”

Anger was definitely mixed in with the emotions surging within her.

Wi Seol-ah caught a very small, wobbling emotion within that.

If I had chosen a slightly different approach.

If I had said slightly different words to you.

Perhaps it wouldn’t have ended up like this.

Conflicting thoughts were rampant inside the woman.

“…I regret that so much.”

After saying that.

The woman looked down calmly at the fallen man.

The rattling emotions were coiled as if about to explode any second.

The woman still only endured.

Leaving that man behind.

The woman turned around and went outside.

Her steps were full of hesitation.

But she maintained a firm resolve, as if not wanting to show it outside.

Just as Wi Seol-ah wondered if she was really going to leave like this.

Rustle.

At the sound of movement from behind, the woman immediately turned her head.

In the direction she looked, the man was moving his broken body, creaking.

The woman looked at the man with wide, trembling eyes.

Tap. Tap tap.

Whether aware of her gaze or not.

The man began writing something on the floor with trembling fingertips.

One line.

And another line.

Every time he wrote something down on the floor.

Blood poured out gushingly from the man’s mouth.

As if it were something he shouldn’t be doing.

“What are you doing…!”

The woman, seeing the man’s condition, cried out and rushed towards him.

Suddenly, the woman’s body swayed.

“Wait…”

The woman seemed to realize something at the sight of the man, barely regaining her balance and running towards him as if sprinting.

From the man’s body, having written all the words.

Pop-!

With a sound like something bursting, his body collapsed.

The woman, with all her might, supported and held the man.

“Please… please…”

Urgently, the woman tried hard to check the man.

His body growing cold.

And his fading eyes.

She could tell the man’s life had already ended.

‘…Why…?’

Wi Seol-ah couldn’t understand.

If someone was imprisoned in a place like this, they must surely be a bad person.

The reason that woman showed such emotions towards the man.

Wi Seol-ah couldn’t understand.

The one thing she could understand.

Was that the woman was definitely feeling sadness.

So many emotions had swirled and churned as if about to explode in one place.

What remained for the woman now was solely sadness.

And a very deep, dark sadness at that.

‘…I want to wake up.’

Wi Seol-ah wanted to wake up from this dream immediately.

Because the emotions she was feeling now were too heavy to bear.

Just before dying, what did the man really want to convey to the woman?

Because the woman had urgently hugged and moved the man, the words written in blood on the floor were gone.

Surely, wasn’t that the information the woman needed?

But.

For the woman now, the words didn’t matter.

Drip.

Drip drip.

Water drops fell to the floor.

It wasn’t blood.

‘Crying…?’

Wi Seol-ah could see.

The woman who hadn’t shed a single tear even amidst those harsh situations.

Was shedding tears while holding the man.

The woman, who had been sobbing, slowly began to cry aloud.

At the same time, Wi Seol-ah trembled, unable to bear the emotions felt from the woman.

It was the first time she had felt such deep pain.

Holding up her arm when scolded by Hong Wa.

Or the pain felt in her hands while swinging a wooden sword.

The pain the heart feels is so deep, it’s unbearable.

‘I want to wake up…. Please….’

Dreams are never on Wi Seol-ah’s side.

Since she couldn’t wake up just by wanting to, did she just have to endure it this time too?

‘Young Master….’

Wi Seol-ah thought of Gu Yangcheon and clenched her eyes shut.

Of course, even closing her eyes didn’t mean the dream would end.

The woman who had been crying out like that.

Covered her throat as if suppressing her emotions and stifled her cries.

Because someone had approached.

“Leader-nim.”

At the voice of someone who approached the prison.

The woman composed her voice and replied.

“…What is it?”

“…The one you sought…. Huh.”

The middle-aged man stopped talking upon seeing the person the woman was holding.

“Ma-je…”

Before the man could say anything more.

The woman slowly stood up.

After laying the deceased’s body gently on the ground.

The man tried hard to lower his head.

Because he shouldn’t face the woman’s face right now.

“Geol Wang.”

“Yes, Leader-nim.”

“If there are any remaining Mind Demons, please inform them that Ma-je has died.”

“…Understood.”

As if having no regrets, the woman went outside.

Geol Wang, left alone, looked at Ma-je, whose eyes were closed.

“Go well.”

Just those words.

Geol Wang spoke briefly and disappeared from the prison, following the woman.

And Wi Seol-ah, left alone in the room.

Looked down at the man lying dead forlornly.

Her face was still not visible.

But why, it’s a familiar sensation.

The woman’s deep anger and heavy sadness had left.

Normally, Wi Seol-ah shouldn’t have been able to separate from the woman.

Wi Seol-ah found it strange to be left alone here.

‘…Why…?’

Moreover, even though it was a dark and scary place.

For some reason, it didn’t feel particularly scary.

Wi Seol-ah, left alone.

Reached out her translucent hand towards the man.

There was no reason.

It just felt like she should.

Just as her small fingertips were about to touch the man.

-Are you truly alright?

Another voice was heard in Wi Seol-ah’s ear.

And her eyes opened.

She had woken up from the nightmare.

******************

Deep dawn.

With eyes still hazy with sleep, Wi Seol-ah looked around.

Not far away, a small candle was lit.

And two old men were conversing.

“Are you truly alright with that?”

“Is there something that cannot be done?”

Perhaps because she woke up midway.

Sleepiness was still overwhelming her.

She was curious about what her grandfather behind her was saying.

But Wi Seol-ah couldn’t resist the oncoming sleepiness and had to fall asleep again.

Wi Seol-ah, who fell asleep unable to overcome her sleepiness.

Geom-jon was quietly watching Wi Seol-ah like that.

“…What are you doing?”

“It’s nothing. The child seemed to have woken up slightly, so I put her back to sleep.”

Though Geom-jon, sitting a distance away, didn’t know how he put Wi Seol-ah back to sleep.

Sin-ui didn’t bother to ask.

Because there was a more important story to tell now.

“I am called Sin-ui (Divine Doctor), but I am truly not a god.”

“I know.”

“No, it seems the Leader doesn’t quite understand. That there are things I cannot do.”

“However, isn’t it because you accepted that it’s something you can do?”

“…Huh, Leader…”

At Sin-ui’s sigh, Geom-jon said.

“I hope that child grows up to be an ordinary child.”

“That’s the most difficult wish.”

At Geom-jon’s words, Sin-ui inwardly clicked his tongue.

The child sleeping behind them.

Sin-ui was astonished seeing the vast space the child possessed.

It was too vast for a human vessel.

So vast and high it seemed like nothing was there.

Perhaps that was why Geom-jon asked Sin-ui.

To please close it.

To close that enormous vessel that anyone would covet.

Sin-ui couldn’t understand Geom-jon’s words.

“…Please understand that this is beyond the realm of medicine.”

“I know. That’s precisely why I sought you out.”

Sin-ui.

Or Tae-ui, the old man’s true name was Zhuge.

A name now vanished, or lost.

And a prestigious family from the past.

That explored and evolved the realm of formations.

And studied the demonic arts. It was a clan.

That Geom-jon knew this made Sin-ui extremely uneasy.

Few in the Central Plains would know this, yet Geom-jon knew it.

“…If you grant this request, I will give you what Sin-ui has desired.”

“Ha, where on earth are you going to get the Hundred-Grade Demonic Beast Stone?”

Despite Geom-jon’s confidence, Sin-ui couldn’t easily believe him.

What Sin-ui had sought over the years was the Hundred-Grade Demonic Beast’s demonic stone.

For a very long time, since the Hundred-Grade Demonic Arts scripture hadn’t appeared.

The Hundred-Grade Demonic Beast’s demonic stone was practically unobtainable.

But Geom-jon was saying.

That he could give it to Sin-ui.

“…There is no lie. If you wish, you can even place a restriction.”

Seeing Geom-jon like that, Sin-ui sighed deeply.

Because he understood his urgency to some extent.

The reason he was ultimately seeking the Hundred-Grade Demonic Stone.

Was because of his grandson, who was dearer than his own eyes.

“…As I said again, it will require much preparation. And it’s something that cannot be done here, especially.”

“I’ve already told Gu Ga-ju that I will leave once Sin-ui’s preparations are complete.”

Currently, Sin-ui was taking care of the people of the Gu family.

And Sin-ui is the type of person who never leaves a patient under his care, no matter what happens.

So if he were to leave, it would be after these people are all recovered.

Sin-ui, without hiding his reluctant expression.

Asked Geom-jon.

“Where do you plan to go?”

As things wouldn’t go smoothly.

Much preparation and cost would be needed.

Moreover, as the matter had to proceed secretly, they had to move with utmost secrecy.

A suitable place would be difficult to find.

To Sin-ui’s question, Geom-jon replied.

“…I will go to Cheong-hae.”

At Geom-jon’s words, a place came to Sin-ui’s mind.

One of the Nine Great Sects.

Cheong-hae, where the Kunlun Sect is located.

However, the place Geom-jon is heading to won’t be Kunlun.

Because that place is not only home to the Kunlun Sect.

But also where the Jang family’s main house is located in Ha-nam.

******************

And so, noon arrived the next day.

“We shall proceed with the Elder Council regarding the First Young Master.”

In the Gu family, the Elder Council was convened, led by the family head.