The Yarn of Affinity (3)
The clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter… The machines were spinning at a frantic pace, weaving an entire vista into existence.
*Fate is nothing but affinity. That means fate itself can pull something toward you. It was the thought that surfaced the day I stood beside Seo Hyul in Bongmyeong Castle and felt the pull of destiny’s affinity.*
The winds around me began to shift.
Shapes like illusions appeared on the puppets’ bodies, then melted into perfect human forms.
At the highest level of the Wondrous Castle, the night sky hung above us, and the joyful clamor of a festival spilled out in every direction.
*If fate can pull metaphysical phenomena, then… could it pull time and space as well?*
Kim Yeon’s position and Goe-gun’s position had split apart completely.
An entirely different space had begun to take shape.
*Since the day I built the Wondrous Castle from Bongmyeong’s replica, I have dreamed it… dreamed it still. Finally…*
Goe-gun smiled brightly and began to fan himself with a folding fan beside the woman who was no longer a puppet but a true person.
The man known as Jo Yeon. The moment in his life when he had been the happiest.
The very space-time of that memory—two lovers fanning themselves at a feast—was being recreated at the exact center of the Wondrous Castle.
*Crack-crack-crack!*
I felt my life force being sucked straight toward the space-time ahead of me.
Yet even as life itself was drained, I refused to release the consciousness that controlled the Wondrous Castle.
Tears streamed down my face.
*[Why are you pushing me and Eun-hyun into hell? What are you doing right now? Why do you get to be happy while the rest of us live in the ruin he made? That’s not fair…!]*
I could never accept it.
The villain who had driven billions of lives into the abyss of suffering.
The sight of him smiling as though he had reached heaven itself inside that very abyss.
*Creak, creak, creak!*
My consciousness, now the sovereign of the Wondrous Castle, finally reached the deepest commands of its core.
*Clank, clank…*
The machines began to slow. They were trying to shatter the space-time right before my eyes.
Then my body trembled.
*Life…*
The space-time before me and my own life had become perfectly entangled.
*Ugh…!*
I gritted my teeth.
An immense force was being pulled toward the space-time. If it continued, my life force would be completely drained.
*No. No…!*
But I could not simply watch the villain who had destroyed my entire life achieve his goal.
*This cannot happen!*
I understood that the dance would end soon. The space-time would scatter like smoke once the fan stopped.
At that point my life force would no longer be sucked away.
My life would be hanging by a thread, but it was the only way to survive.
I didn’t want that.
*Why do I have to watch that madman be happy?*
I knew better than anyone that the man who had ruined my life and the life of the person I loved was inside that space.
I knew he too was being drained.
If the space-time he had created vanished, Goe-gun would be on the verge of death.
He would simply die.
But.
*Would that madman really die smiling in happiness like that?*
*Snap.*
*I cannot allow it…!*
*Slap, slap, slap!*
My consciousness pierced into the space ahead, but at the same time I realized the space and I were beginning to merge.
*Boink!*
My dantian overheated. Blood erupted from my nose and eyes.
Yet even as tears of blood fell, I forced my trembling hand to continue destroying Goe-gun’s work.
Then.
*Crash!*
A strong hand seized mine.
It was Seo Eun-hyun.
* * *
I looked back and forth between the space-time that had formed before me and Kim Yeon, who was desperately trying to destroy it even as she sacrificed herself.
Since she had seized control of the Wondrous Castle, the chaos had fallen silent.
Only then could I enter.
“Yeon-ah, stop it.”
*[Oppa…]*
She looked up at me.
*[Why? Why must he die happily like that, and why must we live in the life he ruined? It’s just… it’s unfair…! I can’t… The pain of his lifelong dream collapsing right in front of me…]*
“Yeon-ah.”
I stared into her face.
“Life is supposed to be unfair, isn’t it?”
*[Eh…?]*
“This world is a hell. Unfair, insane, and filled with pain. That is this world. But…”
I pulled her into my arms.
“Still… didn’t we give each other our hearts?”
A long time ago someone had taught me: A mirror in the desert sparkles when light hits it, but becomes a sharp, dangerous weapon when light does not reach it.
I had not forgotten her because her heart toward me had been large, but because the value of life we gained through giving and receiving had been even greater.
Yet at that moment I chose to forget her for a while and held Kim Yeon tighter.
“Life is a hell, but if we gave each other our hearts… perhaps we can reach a heaven even better than that madman’s.”
*Tick, tick.*
I felt her tears fall onto my shoulder.
“Until now I thought I could never receive your heart. Because…”
Her body was that of a cold, rigid doll, yet her heart, her pain, her excitement, her very soul had reached me.
“I only received your heart while trapped inside the doll. I had nothing to give you in return. But now that the end is coming… now I can give you mine…”
*Shhh…*
Kim Yeon, wrapped in white threads, returned to her usual form—soft pink robes once more.
“I will receive your heart.”
“…Thank you.”
She wept like a child in my arms.
“Thank you… really…”
*Crack-crack-crack…*
She no longer pierced the space-time with her consciousness.
No more merging.
But.
*Still… my life force is being sucked into that space…*
Her Strange Star-Mind Scroll had forcibly connected the power of the Wondrous Castle to the space.
When that space eventually vanished, Kim Yeon would be safe. But whether the space would devour her life force entirely before collapsing was unknown.
*I must sever the connection between Kim Yeon and that space.*
*Whoosh!*
I gathered my life force in my left hand and swung it toward the link.
The force did not cut. On the contrary, it only made her life force flow faster into the space.
I watched for a moment, then thought.
*Ordinary attacks cannot sever the bond. Then…*
I needed a strike specialized in cutting and severing.
*Whoosh-whoosh!*
After remodeling my body with Jang Ik’s techniques, I pulled out the Invisible Sword for the first time in a very long time.
*Whoosh-whoosh!*
It felt slightly awkward, but since it was the martial skill I had mastered with both body and soul, my Invisible Sword revealed its true intent once more.
*Cut…*
*CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!*
I infused the Invisible Sword with the aura of the Four Pillars.
*Whoosh-whoosh!*
At the same time I pulled in the life force of the puppets I controlled and poured it into the sword.
*Shhhrrrng!*
The Invisible Sword grew even more transparent, so transparent that even I could no longer feel the sensation in my hand.
*Cut.*
The sword was now infused with the ultimate power of the Four Pillars—strong enough to sever anything.
*Cut!*
And finally…
When my intent reached its peak, I swung the Invisible Sword.
*Whoosh!* *Whoosh!*
The Invisible Sword cleaved through the life force in front of me.
As a sword that could cut anything, it cut the flow of qi itself.
But.
*Grit…*
I failed to cut through the vast flow that Goe-gun had created.
Countless artificial souls. The grand current they had produced—the space-time before me.
It required an even stronger force than the suction of that space-time.
*If I can cut the space-time itself…*
With that level of power or skill, perhaps I could sever it.
*One more time…*
I swung the Invisible Sword with all my strength again.
*Whoosh!*
But the same result.
I closed my eyes and recalled the sensation of imitating the Luminance Radiance.
I entered my mind, summoned the Luminance Radiance, and visualized it.
I brought it into my palm on the transparent Daoist Mountain.
But.
*Not enough…*
Even moving the entire Daoist Mountain would it be enough to cut through that madman’s greatest achievement?
*To cut the flow of qi that is devouring Yeon’s life…*
It would require power that surpasses both Luminance Radiance and the Invisible Sword.
*I need more power… more power…!*
Then.
*…Huh?*
I suddenly saw something strange in the center of the transparent Daoist Mountain.
It was a small green woodcutter’s axe.
Unlike the surrounding Daoist Mountain swords that pointed toward the sky, this axe was planted straight up—handle raised—as if someone had deliberately driven it in.
And.
I felt an inexplicable pull from that axe.
*Grab it. Grab it. Grab it…*
In my mind I reached out unconsciously toward the axe that kept whispering to me.
When I gripped the axe’s handle and pulled it from the Daoist Mountain…
*Whoosh!*
“!”
The Invisible Sword I held turned green and became a single green axe.
A voice echoed in my mind.
*[So you’ve reached stage two of manifestation. I thought you were a special one who surpasses my master. I planted my one strike in your mind.]*
A small green humanoid walked past me, speaking.
*[You bear hatred toward Goe-gun? The day you pull out my strike is probably the day you show that hatred. It will be rough on your body, but…]*
The green small man. Jang Ik, the Heaven-Sinking Venerable.
I adopted the exact stance of the qi technique he had used and stared blankly at the life-force flow ahead.
Then.
The green axe fell.
*[If you use it, you will surely achieve your goal. I don’t know how you reached stage two of manifestation with the Heart Tribe method, but your mind shows you are a fine Heart Tribe member. Therefore, I will aid you.]*
*Destruction.*
Only those two characters flashed in my mind.
Ah, this is…
A fighting method created solely to destroy everything.
To provoke the opponent, to destroy the target, to break oneself.
A realm that smashes all of it to pieces.
A different answer from the one I had with Kim Young-hoon.
*Crack-crack-crack!*
The green axe tore through space itself as it advanced.
The vast flow of life force? It was just child’s play in front of me.
Everything. Everything will be destroyed.
The single green axe bisected the remaining Wondrous Castle in half—space and all.
*CRACK!*
The entire world was engulfed in green light. Every energy circuit of Jang’s body burned out and exploded.
The life force of the other puppets I had been drawing from was completely consumed.
At the same time.
*CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!*
Kim Yeon was hurled out of Goe-gun’s space-time.
*Whoosh…*
Without the supply of her consciousness and life force, the space-time he had created began to collapse.
*CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!*
I flew toward the dislocated Kim Yeon and caught her in my arms while barely moving with my ruined arms.
*Crash!*
Half of the Wondrous Castle’s remaining structure collapsed exactly where the green axe’s destruction mark had been.
It fell beyond the tear in space.
I stepped onto empty air and relocated beside Goe-gun’s space-time.
*Push…*
The flickering space-time finally began to dissipate slowly.
“Finally…”
“It’s over…”
I set Kim Yeon down.
The space-time of the past crumbled.
At the highest level of the Wondrous Castle, only the frozen puppets remained.
*[She] had also returned from her past appearance to her current puppet form.]*
Goe-gun, now more withered than ever, held her hand and smiled.
All his life force was exhausted; he could not even sense a single breath.
We walked toward him.
*Thud.*
When we reached him, he collapsed together with *[She]*.
“He’s dead.”
“…Yes.”
The madman’s purpose had never been to save the dead.
He only wanted to recreate the moment of his greatest happiness and die inside it.
I looked at the surrounding puppets.
“…So that’s why that madman was trying to create a fake soul…”
Kim Yeon let out a bitter laugh.
“Was it because I completed the Wondrous Castle with my own hands?”
She seemed to have understood something.
“Goe-gun believed that just as fate can influence people, people can influence fate. That is why he created countless fake souls until now.”
From her lips came the secret of the Wondrous Castle.
“He moved countless fake souls to influence fate and create affinity. Through that affinity, he wanted to summon his own past—the happiest moment—and recreate it. That was his goal.”
Kim Yeon sat down heavily.
I sat beside her.
Not a single strand of energy remained in the circuit.
She, who had endured immense suffering, could only lean on my shoulder with a lifeless expression and gaze at the dead Goe-gun and *[She]*.
“…It’s finally over.”
“…Yes.”
It had been a long, long road.
We had finally escaped from Goe-gun’s grasp.
She smiled faintly and tightly held my hand—the hand whose energy circuit had burned out and could no longer move.
“Eun-hyun oppa.”
“Hm?”
“I have something to say…”
Then.
*CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!*
A massive barrier unfolded above the sky.
*Whoosh!*
In the center of the barrier formation, a majestic blue dragon was drawn.
From beyond the barrier, Seo Hyul’s voice rang out.
*[Thanks to the Heaven-Sinking Venerable, I was able to lock onto his attack. Hehe, Wol-ya. Are you still alive? Or did you finally close your eyes after receiving the strike he hid? The distance is too great; I can’t tell the situation.]*
*Whoosh-whoosh!*
Power began to gather in the center of the barrier.
“Such…”
I gritted my teeth and tried to stand.
But my strength left me.
It was right after I had unleashed Jang Ik’s strike.
My entire body was shattered.
Kim Yeon, who had been activating the Wondrous Castle, could not even lift a finger.
She had tried to control the remaining puppets, but only a few were left, and most of them were broken.
*[Even if Wol-ya has already passed, if he is still alive by any chance, it will be very troublesome. So please close your eyes and rest peacefully.]*
*CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!*
The dragon emblem in the center of the barrier trembled and came alive.
At the same time, various immortal beasts appeared around the dragon.
*[Our long enmity has finally ended. To my lifelong rival, I offer my respect, Seo Hyul. Then…]*
*CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!*
*[Wife, activate it for me.]*
*Flash!*
The immortal beasts became vivid illusions as if alive, and each one opened its mouth.
A vast light filled the heavens.
I watched the falling light rays and turned to Kim Yeon beside me.
She looked at me with acceptance in her eyes.
“…Eun-hyun oppa.”
“…Yeon-ah.”
I took her hand and spoke.
“One thing… may I ask for your permission?”
“What is it?”
“From now on.”
I closed my eyes and said.
My body was dry of tears, yet tears seemed ready to fall.
“If we have another life… even in the next life… even if you are not the one who has walked with me until now…”
The surroundings turned white.
“Will it be all right if I keep sending you my heart?”
For a moment she met my gaze, then smiled within the light.
“Eun-hyun oppa, you told me not to tell you my secret, right? Shall I tell you one huge secret?”
“Wait…”
“I’m actually…”
Kim Yeon hesitated a moment, then smiled more beautifully than any flower.
“I like Eun-hyun oppa the most. So… please do that.”
“…Really?”
Caught in the light, our bodies vanished.
I smiled faintly.
“What a wonderful secret.”
After the end of Goe-gun’s banquet, having confirmed Kim Yeon’s feelings, I slowly closed my eyes as the affinity was fulfilled.
* * *
The two dolls who had shared a life for over a thousand years, at the end of a life dyed with pain, finally embraced each other within the light.
That was Seo Eun-hyun’s fourteenth regression.