Chapter 171
As soon as Yu-hyun returned to the management building, he called for Kwon Jia and Kang Hye-rim.
They looked quite puzzled by the urgent summons, something he rarely did.
“Yu-hyun, what’s going on? You called us right away.”
“Is there something wrong?”
“Yes. Something very serious.”
Yu-hyun was about to explain briefly what was going to happen, but at that moment, Sung Yu-chan came looking for him in a hurry.
“Kang Yu-hyun Teller! If you’re here, please take a look at this.”
Yu-hyun read from his anxious expression that something had already gone wrong. His uneasy imagination became reality when he saw the tablet screen that Sung Yu-chan handed him.
“This is a scene captured by a CCTV under a nearby railway bridge.”
“What is this…”
Sung Yu-chan played the video.
There were two girls in the video.
One was Seo Sumin, who had been with him until a while ago, and the other was Kang Yura.
Seo Sumin was crouching in fear, and Kang Yura, who was passing by, happened to see her and approached her.
It was the moment when the two people in the screen exchanged some words.
Suddenly, something strange happened between them.
A swirl of letters that appeared out of thin air swallowed the two girls.
“Wow! Is that… a world of thoughts?”
“Hmm.”
Kang Hye-rim and Kwon Jia, who were watching the scene with him, also gasped and widened their eyes.
That thing that swallowed the two girls looked exactly like the entrance to the world of thoughts that they had seen enough of.
No, it was the world of thoughts.
It was a big deal that not only did a world of thoughts appear out of nowhere, but also that two students were caught up in it.
Yu-hyun’s expression became noticeably serious.
‘A world of thoughts appeared out of nowhere? And right between those two?’
Yu-hyun did not think that it was a coincidence.
It was too convenient for an incident to happen at that timing.
“Yuchan, rewind the video a bit. Yes. Stop there. Move the video forward by 0.3 seconds. Yes. There you go.”
Yu-hyun caught something from the CCTV screen that was not very clear.
He pointed at something with his finger.
“Do you see this?”
“Huh? I can’t see it well.”
“You’ll see it if you look closely. The quality is bad, but right here. Something black is falling, right?”
As Yu-hyun rewound and played the video several times around one second before and after, the others also nodded their heads in admiration.
Kang Hye-rim said with a gleam in her eyes.
“I see it. A very small black dot is falling.”
“Yes. And as soon as it falls, the world of thoughts suddenly appears.”
“That means…”
“This world of thoughts is not something that happened by chance. It was artificially created by someone.”
At Yu-hyun’s words, Kang Hye-rim and Sung Yu-chan gasped.
It was hard to accept that someone could artificially create a world of thoughts.
“Yuchan, can you hack some more CCTV cameras around here and check the surroundings?”
“Uh, just a moment.”
Sung Yu-chan quickly checked something on his personal tablet computer.
He was indeed someone who Yu-hyun had an eye on, as his work was fast and accurate.
His fingers flew over the keyboard and in an instant, dozens of CCTV screens popped up on the monitor.
“I hacked all the CCTV cameras around here. But I can’t see where this thing fell from. It looks like it fell from above, but there’s no camera pointing there.”
“What about a satellite or something?”
“Huh?”
Kang Hye-rim’s question made Sung Yu-chan shake his head in shock.
“I don’t touch satellites no matter what. If I do that, I’ll get into international trouble. It’s not like in movies where you can do it easily.”
“Oh, I see…”
“If you give me six hours, I can do it without getting caught, but it’s a bit tedious.”
“Huh?”
Then, does that mean he can do it if he has time?
Kang Hye-rim looked at Sung Yu-chan with astonishment, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.
Yu-hyun asked Kwon Jia.
“Jia, do you know what this is?”
“Hmm.”
Kwon Jia’s eyes had been fixed on the black object that fell from the sky since earlier.
Yu-hyun didn’t know what it was, but he thought she might know somehow.
Her eyes were different from usual.
“I think I saw it once a long time ago.”
“…Are you serious?”
Everyone’s eyes turned to Kwon Jia.
She brushed her chin with her right hand.
A sudden bad memory from the past strongly stimulated her mind.
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“Yes. It was definitely a thing called a seed of story.”
“A seed of story?”
“What is that?”
Kang Hye-rim and Sung Yu-chan had never heard of it, but Yu-hyun was different.
‘A seed of story? Could it be, that thing?’
He had heard of it, but never seen it in person.
A seed of story was literally a vessel in the shape of a seed that contained a story.
Just as the spirits had delivered part of their stories in the form of seeds to the lower world, and sprouted myths and legends there.
A seed of story was literally a vessel that held a story.
The seed itself contained a huge text, and when the seed sprouted, it absorbed and devoured the surrounding stories, and quickly created a world of its own.
Like the world of thoughts that appeared beyond the screen.
“Mr. Yuchan. There’s not much known about this world of thoughts yet, right?”
“Huh? Yes. It’s such a deserted place that no report from the residents has even been submitted yet.”
“That’s fortunate. We need to hurry. I’ll explain more on the way.”
Yu-hyun couldn’t sit still.
Kang Yura couldn’t die.
She was another side of Yu-hyun.
She had the potential to achieve what Yu-hyun had failed to do in the past.
He couldn’t let such a child die without even having a dream.
Surely, his parents would be sad too.
“Mr. Kang Yu-hyun Teller. Please take a look at this before you go.”
“What else is there?”
This time, Sung Yu-chan showed him a photo of five men and women.
Four men and one woman.
In the front was a man with shaved hair, tattoos on his face, and wearing a jumper.
Behind him followed four people of various ages and appearances.
“Who are they…?”
“They are murderers wanted by Interpol. They are Chinese mafia assassins belonging to the White Night Gang, and they have a bad reputation for being very nasty. We confirmed that they smuggled in through Incheon Port’s pier this afternoon.”
Yu-hyun didn’t ask what it had to do with this case.
“…Who hired them?”
“We haven’t confirmed that yet. But one thing for sure is that they have some connection with the Twilight Veil Clan. Collector Jeon Minhyuk, the head of the first branch, went out to greet them.”
“Twilight Veil…”
Yu-hyun guessed what was going on.
‘Was Pentagram involved in this case too? But not Agael. She only worked in the Korean branch. If the White Night Gang, a Chinese mafia, moved, then it was someone from Pentagram who was in charge of China who did this.’
A seed of story that suddenly fell from thin air and targeted Seo Sumin.
A world of thoughts that appeared as if aiming for her.
The collectors of the White Night Gang who smuggled in at a similar timing.
All of them were related to Pentagram and Daesung Army.
Yu-hyun’s expression became cold as if he had faced an enemy.
“We can’t stay here like this. Get ready everyone.”
***
Seo Sumin dreamed for the first time in a long time.
Not of the days when she ruled and dominated everything as a heavenly horse, but perhaps of a much more distant past.
In her dreams, Seo Sumin was always alone.
She wasn’t a heavenly horse from the beginning.
In her earliest memory, she was an orphan who didn’t even know who her parents were as a child.
She lived in a back alley where she barely made enough money to eat every day with other children in similar situations.
Her life back then was hellish.
She was always hungry because she couldn’t eat properly for days, and somehow begged or stole food and ran away.
If she got caught stealing, she would be beaten to death.
Her weak body would get bone disease if she got hit wrong and she would hover between life and death for days.
She learned how not to get hurt badly then for the first time.
But the most cruel thing was not the hunger that scratched her stomach, nor the people who wielded clubs with violence.𝖓𝑜ν𝙚𝘭𝘣Ꭵ𝒏.𝒏𝙚𝒕
Winter.
On snowy days, the cold that froze her flesh sharply was the most terrible.
On days when the wind cut through her skin like a knife, the parentless children huddled together and spent several days quietly.
The weak children couldn’t withstand the cold and froze to death.
When she woke up from sleep, she saw familiar faces coldly cooled down.
The frozen children didn’t open their eyes.
Seo Sumin wondered if it would be her turn next every time she saw that, and clenched her teeth and burned her desire for survival.
She didn’t know why, but she just wanted to live.
One day.
A group of people came.
They were covered in black cloth, emitting a sinister aura.
The other children didn’t know, but Seo Sumin felt it strangely.
‘Huh?’
As if he noticed that she read something, one of the men in black came forward.
He was an old man with a warm impression.
‘Heh. This is something. This kid, did he read our energy? He felt it even though we hid it so well. He’s not an ordinary eye. Could it be, to find such a talent in this place.’
She didn’t understand what the old man was saying at that time.
She only vaguely felt that he was relatively softer in atmosphere and momentum than the other people in black.
And that he looked at her very favorably.
The old man checked her various things.
He tapped her wrist and sent some energy into it, or touched her shoulder or pulled her cheek, or examined her teeth.
‘Huh. She’s still young, and has a great sense of reading energy, and her eyes are alive. And her muscles are excellent. To think that such a talent was living in this shabby place. She could become a great master if she does well. No, maybe even more than that…’
The old man muttered as if he was recalling his boyhood dream, and reached out his hand to her.
‘How about it? Do you want to come with me? We can do anything if we join hands.’
Seo Sumin didn’t remember what she said then.
The only thing she was sure of was that the old man was her savior who pulled her out of this hell.
She grabbed his hand.
If she stayed here, she would either starve to death, freeze to death, or die from a beating. She didn’t want to die.
She wanted to live, and so she grabbed his hand.
Thinking that it was the only lifeline that could save her. Desperately.
‘Hehehe. You’re bold.’
The old man smiled softly at Seo Sumin.
On a snowy winter day.
The first adult hand she ever held.
It was so warm.
Chwarararak.
The memories after that passed by like a film projector.
She saw herself training like crazy under the old man’s guidance.
Her skinny and malnourished appearance was gone.
She tied her long hair, received decent treatment, and diligently learned martial arts.
She changed beyond recognition.
What was more surprising was not her external change, but her martial arts growth.
The place where she belonged was called Cheonmashinkyo.
She had heard of it briefly before.
A martial sect that worships power and is dangerous to the public, or something like that?
It wasn’t very important to her.
It was the place that gave her food and a warm bed.
Cheonmashinkyo was another home for her.
She started from the bottom of Cheonmashinkyo.
But her enormous talent that surpassed cognition made her rise to the top in no time.
‘Hehehe! Amazing! Really amazing!’
The old man laughed happily as if it was his own achievement whenever she showed results.
She liked that. She was happy that the old man who picked her up recognized her, and she liked it when he smiled.
She devoted herself more to training.
She became stronger and stronger.
There were no crises.
There were people who envied her, and people who were wary of her as a threat to their position.
There were also people who tried to get rid of her by any means, but the person who stood at the end was always her.
Four years after she joined Cheonmashinkyo.
She became a senior disciple from a junior disciple.
Two years later.
She reached the top disciple rank.
Three years passed. She became the leader of Hyulyeongdae (Blood Shadow Squad), one of the five martial forces of the evil sect.
A year later, she became one of the 12 elders.
Although she was the youngest among them, she was only 20 years old when she became the youngest elder of Cheonmashinkyo.
More importantly, she was the first one to rise from a junior disciple to this point.
She didn’t settle for being an elder. Rather, she worked harder and devoted herself to training with blood and sweat.
It wasn’t because of her ambition to become stronger.
She just wanted to be recognized. She wanted to please the old man who picked her up.
The person who reached out his hand to her who had nothing.
The person who taught her warmth for the first time.
Surely, she knew that his act of reaching out his hand to her was not done out of pure goodwill. But that didn’t matter.
Thanks to him, she got a chance.
A chance to live a new life.
Maybe that’s why?
When the current Cheonma ran out of his life span and died, and they discussed who would take over as the next leader.
‘You should take over as the next Cheonma. The son of the leader who will soon pass away is not fit to lead the sect at all. He’s dissolute and addicted to women, and he only listens to what he wants to hear. We can’t entrust the fate of our sect to him.’
‘Grandpa. Can I really do that?’
‘Why not? You can do it. You, who became the youngest elder and reached that level in just 10 years…’
‘Well, okay, I’ll try.’
That’s how the current Cheonma passed away, and a year later.
Seo Sumin crushed the candidates for the next leader with her overwhelming power, and ascended to the position of Cheonma.
She looked down at the tens of thousands of evil sect disciples who bowed their heads in front of her in black robes.
They all praised her as the new Cheonma.
Her dream ended there.
“Ugh.”
Seo Sumin woke up from her sleep with a pain in her head.
***
“Here it is.”
Yu-hyun stood in front of the mind world that was created in a place where no one was around yet.
-Senior. Are you okay?
‘Don’t worry. As soon as I enter, prepare to open the library.’
-Understood.
Celine asked with concern, but Yu-hyun said he was fine and looked back.
Kwon Jia and Kang Hye-rim were slightly tense and waiting for his words.
“First of all, our top priority is to rescue the two civilians who are trapped inside. We’ll postpone clearing the mind world. Got it?”
“Yes.”
“Got it.”
“Good. Then let’s go in.”
The three entered the mind world right away.
As they felt like they passed through a thin membrane of water, the scenery around them changed in an instant.
The sight that unfolded inside was like a city that reminded them of ancient China.
Yu-hyun knew where this was.
‘This is… the martial world?’
