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< Prologue-1 >
Seongmin Lee raised his head. She, standing not far away, is Baek So-go with an incandescent glow. She was holding a flower full of flowers in her arms. Her pure white hair, which seemed inappropriate for her age, was flowing in the wind, and her uniform was neat and tidy, unlike the old clothes she had seen on Mt. Mushi.
“… private residence… ?”
Lee Seong-min was surprised and called Baek So-go. At Lee Seong-min’s call, Baek So-go looked at Lee Seong-min’s face without saying anything. Baek So-go, who only glanced at him for a moment, walked forward. Baek Sogo’s expression became gloomy with each step she took as she approached with the sound of her small footsteps.
“why… “Your sister-in-law is here?”
“I heard a rumor.”
Baek Sogo said in a low voice. She turned her eyes from looking at Lee Seong-min and saw the fallen corpse of the Sword Ear. Even though the Sword Demon was a vampire, it was impossible for him to revive after triggering the True Wonjin Qi and sustaining fatal wounds that could lead to death.
The Sword Demon is dead.
Baek Sogo’s steps stopped in front of the sword demon’s body.
“… I feel stupid… Should I lament?”
Baek Sogo’s words were questionable. However, those words sounded more like a question to Baek Sogo himself rather than to It Umni. Seongmin Lee could not say anything and put down his spear.
“… Priests. long time no see. Just 5 years… easy? “I never thought I would meet the priest again, in a place like this, and for this reason.”
Baek So-go looks at Lee Seong-min with gloomy eyes. Lee Seong-min was also unable to think of reuniting with Baek So-go.
“The priest has become stronger.”
Baek Sogo nodded and said.
“I mean… This might sound a little cruel to the priest. I was watching the fight between the priest and the old sword demon earlier. “I also saw a priest being pushed into danger by an elderly sword demon.”
“Why do you say I might find him cruel?”
“If we had fought like that, the priest would have been killed by the sword demon.”
“Not murdered.”
“I was aiding him.”
Baek Sogo muttered in a low voice.
“I thought I shouldn’t intervene. The difference in capabilities between the priest and the old sword demon was clear, but still… I couldn’t intervene. “I thought that if I intervened and interrupted them, it would be an insult to the fight between the priest and the old sword demon.”
“I have no intention of criticizing.”
It’s not that I don’t know Baek Sogo’s feelings. Baeksogo is also unmanned. She was born and lived in the martial arts world, and when she was summoned to Eria, she had a strong stubborn side when it came to these types of issues. She was the type of person who did not regret her own actions, even if she was saddened by her own actions and caused an irreversible situation.
“Because I’m not dead.”
Wasn’t it right that he should have died?
Seongmin Lee thought about that for a moment. But I immediately erase those thoughts. Baek Sogo looked at Lee Seong-min’s face and slowly raised the corners of his mouth and smiled.
“… so… I feel fortunate. If the priest had died here, I wouldn’t have prevented his death… “You must have been very sad after that.”
“Do you think you have avenged my enemies?”
Seongmin Lee asked about him without realizing it. I thought it was a mischievous question, but the words had already left Lee Seong-min’s lips. He felt like he had missed it after asking, but surprisingly, Baek Sogo didn’t look that embarrassed. Instead, she nodded her head.
“Even if it is not for the sake of the priest’s enemies. I am the old sword spirit… “I came here to stop it.”
Baek Sogo said that and bowed down. She placed the flower she was holding in her arms on her sword-eared chest.
“Elder Sword Demon wasn’t right.”
“… What do you mean it wasn’t right?”
Lee Seong-min had no choice but to say those words. Sword Demon is not right. dirty. Dangerous. The words of the saint and the sword demon himself saying that he had no choice but to become ‘that way’ were intertwined.
“Are you saying it wasn’t right for the old Sword Demon to choose Sado over martial arts?”
“I’m saying it wasn’t right to harm an innocent person. Priests.”
Baek Sogo shook his head and stood up.
“I don’t know what kind of trouble the old Sword Demon had. I don’t know why the old Sword Demon did this. I am… only. The old sword spirit killed Seong Ha-doin, the master of Hwasan, and she was pursued by Hwasan through him. “He came here only after hearing that he had killed the Taoist monks of Hwasan who were pursuing him.”
“… “That wasn’t right?”
“Priests.”
It’s been 5 years since we last met. Ever since Lee Seong-min broke up with Baek So-go, he had imagined the moment he would meet Baek So-go again several times. During the life of Lee Seong-min, who returned to life at the age of 14, Baek So-go, like Wi Ji-ho-yeon, was one of the people who had the most influence on Lee Seong-min.
Lee Seong-min learned martial arts from Wi Ji-ho-yeon. At the same time he learned his own weakness. At the same time, he realized the feeling of inferiority one feels towards a true genius.
From Baek Sogo, I learned how to interact with others. I learned that humans can never live alone.
After that, I learned about my own contradictions and shortcomings through Jihak and French ambassadors.
For Lee Seong-min, Baek So-go is a person of great significance. That’s why he couldn’t watch Baek Sogo die. So I did it. Because I want to somehow prevent Baek Sogo’s death.
If we meet again.
What did ‘I’ want to say to her?
“Everyone has their own definition of justice.”
Baek Sogo sighed and said.
“My definition and the priest’s definition may be different. The justice I have is a measure that determines how a person behaves. I don’t know what kind of heart or justice the priest had when he came here and intercepted the old sword spirit. I don’t know what kind of feelings the priest had for the elderly sword demon. Likewise, the priest will not know why I came here or what feelings I had for the old sword demon.”
“I am… “I felt responsible.”
“The priest has grown.”
Baek Sogo gave a low laugh and nodded his head. It wasn’t a sarcastic remark, it was a sincere remark.
“As seen from the mountain of Mshi. I always felt like the priest was overdoing it. He felt like he was fooling himself by wearing clothes that didn’t fit and pretending to fit them. But now… It seems a little different. “The priest has become honest with himself.”
“… He said he came to stop the old sword spirit. “If it’s okay, can you tell me why your sister thought that way?”
“I belong to the Murim Alliance.”
Baek Sogo answered.
“I thought the Murim League was the organization most suited to carrying out my justice, and it was. Thanks to this, I was able to quickly get information about the old man’s movements. With the old Sword Demon… Because there was a connection made in the mountains. At least I wanted to deliver the ending with my own hands. “I didn’t know the priest would be here.”
“… private residence.”
Seongmin Lee hesitated and then called Baeksogo.
“The person the sister saw was… How was it?”
“A lot has changed.”
Baek Sogo answered. She looked down at the Sword Demon’s body one more time.
“The priest’s martial arts skills are several steps ahead of what they were on Mt. Mshi. The priest at that time was very pessimistic and harsh with himself. “I feel like he got his reward in return, so I’m glad.”
no.
“Priests. I’m sorry, but I don’t think we can talk for very long. I came here in a hurry because I was tired of the work I had to do. Now that things have been sorted out… “I have to go back too.”
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“… private residence.”
Seongmin Lee barely managed to get the voice out that was suppressed.
“What is your sister’s mission? “Can you please let me know?”
[Now I am chasing Wijihoyeon.]
Baek Sogo answered with a full tone.
[I can’t tell you in detail. next time… Let’s meet again next time. Priests. I’m busy too, so I can’t promise that day. We will be able to meet again someday.]
After leaving those words, Baek Sogo ran away and disappeared. The lingering scent of the flowers left behind by Baek Sogo remained on the Sword Demon’s corpse. He wanted to talk more with Baek Sogo. However, the current Lee Seong-min did not have a reason to hold on to Baek So-go.
‘They’re chasing Wijihoyeon… ?’
Information from past lives becomes tangled. The sword spirit who was to enter the dungeon with Baek So-go was killed by Lee Seong-min here. There is no involvement of Lee Seong-min in the Sword Demon becoming a vampire. The Sword Demon who was killed by Wijihoyeon in his past life was probably also a vampire.
So what about Baeksogo? Is it because Baek Sogo enters her dungeon with Wiji Hoyeon and is killed by her because Baek Sogo is chasing her Wiji Hoyeon under the orders of the Murim Alliance?
If that is true, Lee Seong-min cannot persuade Baek So-go. Didn’t Baek So-go himself say about that? Everyone has different definitions and values. For Baek Sogo, it is like an unwavering belief.
Seongmin Lee does not have such beliefs. Like Baek So-go, there is no unwavering, absolute faith in what one has. That’s why Lee Seong-min couldn’t catch Baek So-go leaving.
Even so.
I knew for sure.
What to do. What ‘I’ lack. What did ‘I’ run away from and how did I live? Coming back from the dead wasn’t important. It was not important that I had already lived several decades of life.
It must be thrown away.
It has already been thrown away.
Returning to the age of 14, Lee Seong-min embraced his past. The experience of living as a mercenary, and the personality that was formed as a result. I took on the life of a third-class, or rather, second-class person, full of self-deprecation and inferiority complex, as my own.
I was a tiny little person. I was a trivial person from the past. The personality formed through that life was narrow-minded, and the world that was considered absolute was small. Zeon, who Lee Seong-min admired and wanted to become, was not that great.
The world was wide. She knew him all along. As I got to know him, the past disappeared. He had to do that. I had to throw it away. Inferiority complex, self-deprecation, everything else. Lee Seong-min, who lived as a ‘mercenary’.
‘Me’ now. I had to become a new me, not the ‘me’ I was when I was a mercenary.
Since when did it start?
When did you start trying to throw it away?
Since when did I become ‘me’ who was summoned to Eria at the age of 14, and not Lee Seong-min, who died after living as a mercenary for 13 years?
When I first realized that the world was big. When I thought I had to change. Going back that way, in the end, there was Wijihoyeon.
I want to meet you. That’s what I thought.
“It’s noisy these days.”
Denir, whom I met for the first time in four days, had a sour face. Although he had not promised in advance that he would come back sometime, Denir opened the door and welcomed Lee Seong-min right away without being rude.
“They said you killed the Sword Demon. It’s really amazing. The Sword Demon was stronger than you. Even if there were ten of you, we wouldn’t have been able to kill the Sword Demon.”
Over the course of four days, Seongmin Lee thought a lot. I’m disrupting the flow. I was consumed with contradictory responsibility and self-satisfaction.
Fighting with the Sword Demon and killing the Sword Demon. What did I feel? The last thing I felt was guilt. It wasn’t a feeling of guilt because he killed the Sword Demon. I felt guilty because I had betrayed the Sword Demon’s expectations.
The guilt I felt because I was weak.
“so. Four days later, what did you come back to me to tell me? Do you want to talk about trivial everyday things again? As the story goes, you weren’t a very pleasant friend. “Maybe I would too.”
“I want to be tested.”
For four days, Lee Seong-min barely slept. His cheeks were sunken and the area under his eyes was dark. The Volcanic Sect sent a message to Lee Seong-min, who single-handedly killed the Sword Demon, saying that a young hero had been born. The intelligence guilds that were involved in this matter identified the sword demon that Lee Seong-min killed the monk, and the sword demon who was also a vampire. They spread the rumor that he was killed under a full moon night.
“That’s foolish.”
Denir opened his mouth.
“My ordeal is not as merciful as Mshi’s ordeal. I should have already told you about that. Ten people. Ten people with genius qualities took on my ordeal, and only three survived… ”
“Give it to me.”
Seongmin Lee interrupted Denir. Denir pursed his lips and glared at Lee Seong-min’s face. Denir let out a laugh as he looked at the two eyes burning with maniacal obsession.
“pup. “You don’t even know the subject and want to die.”
Denir muttered that and stood up.
“Keep in mind. This death is neither merciful nor quiet. “I assure you that the pain you will feel through this ordeal will be different from any pain you have ever felt in your life.”
“I am the one who experiences it.”
Seongmin Lee gritted his teeth and answered.
“So, give it up.”
“OK!”
Denir shouted. As he raised his hand, the scenery around him turned upside down. Everything that was turned upside down scattered, and Lee Seong-min stood in a pure white space.
“This is the world of consciousness.”
Denir spat out.
“The training here has no effect whatsoever on your body in reality. It is a place where consciousness is endlessly trained. Here, you can’t even see the status window and the effects of the skills that you otherworlders boast about. See what I mean? You must train in this world purely with your own memories and talents.”
Seongmin Lee slowly looked around. there was nothing.
“It’s a place where you don’t have to eat, drink, sleep, or sleep. No matter how many years you spend in this world, less than a second passes through your body in real life. Out of the body, only your consciousness exists in this space, and the time that consciousness feels stretches out endlessly. Even if you spend 100 million years here, real time will not pass at all.”
I felt like I knew what Denir meant by ‘harsh’. Denir placed a small hourglass in front of Lee Seong-min.
“When the sand in this hourglass runs out. “You will have spent 100 years in this world.”
“… “What happens after that?”
“You choose. Will I leave this world or will I spend another 100 years? If you turn the hourglass over again, this time it will last 200 years. Next is 300 years.”
It was a terrible ordeal. The world of consciousness. You have 100 years to choose between escaping from this world or staying alive. No matter how much you train your martial arts, it is impossible to check your martial arts achievements or use your martial arts easily unless you see the status window and the help of skills.
Even if you survive for 100 years, your actual body does not reflect your performance in the world of consciousness. only… I only have memories.
“Even though it’s a place where you don’t have to eat or drink, the choice is yours. You are the master of this world. Anything is possible. You yourself will remain the same. Try to understand that as you live in this world from now on.”
Denir said and tapped the hourglass with his foot.
“What you gain from the 100 years or more you spend here is entirely up to you. It is also up to you to reflect what you have achieved in your actual body. Shall I tell you a few more things? Of the ten who failed, seven went crazy. Living in this world for 100 years with nothing happening. For those 100 years, I couldn’t meet anyone and just practiced like a machine, without any certainty that I would gain anything through it… I went crazy from despair and died. “It’s quite a pleasant sight.”
Denir laughs.
“You can do it for the first 100 years. And then I gain confidence and turn the clock over. And 200 years… “It starts to go crazy halfway through.”
Denir turned around, leaving behind a laughing sound.
“How many years will you last?”
Denir’s appearance disappeared. Seongmin Lee looked blankly at the sand pouring down. He wasn’t holding anything, but the moment he thought of a ‘window’. Seongmin Lee had a spear in his hand. I could understand to some extent what Denir was saying. This is Seongmin Lee’s world of consciousness. Anything is possible.
“… ruler… then… ”
Seongmin Lee held his spear tightly while catching his breath.
The first day of 100 years has begun.
fantasy,
