The Grace of the Master (6)
What exactly is memory?
There could be many definitions, but to me, memory is a kind of root.
Many things can support a person, yet memory is something special.
It is hollow.
“Was it the first regression, or the second…?”
Everything before that is hazy.
When I first died, someone must have taken care of me.
Was it the son of the Kang family, or the granddaughter of the Ju family?
Memories of living an ordinary life until old age gradually sink and weather away with the passage of time.
Naturally, the memories before that suffered the same fate.
Perhaps the thousand years I spent captured by Goe-gun were the greatest problem.
Until then, I had somehow managed to endure.
But trapped inside puppets, surviving solely to seize control of them for a thousand years—
my soul must have weathered away far too much.
What I can still recall of my very first life are the times I spent with Kim Young-hoon and Kim Yeon.
Both had accompanied me for nearly a thousand years, after all.
“But I cannot remember anyone else at all.”
If I was going to forget, I should have forgotten everything.
Why did I only forget in fragments?
“Why did that vague memory of that person being good remain, shaping me into who I am now?”
I drank a mouthful of the Bright Spirit Sacred Water Oh Hyun-seok offered and replenished the qi and blood I had just expended.
True to the waters of the Lake of Bright Spirits, brimming with life force, the head that had burst open moments ago healed completely.
“Now then, let us return.”
“…Yes.”
I took Oh Hyun-seok’s hand and rose.
That was when it happened.
Flash!
The sky rippled, and a blue streak of light flew toward us.
It was Cheong Mun-gyu.
“You lunatics! What on earth were you doing here!?”
“Ah… We were sparring.”
At Oh Hyun-seok’s reply, Cheong Mun-gyu’s face twisted in frustration.
“What will you do if Goe-gun notices all this commotion!?”
I looked at Cheong Mun-gyu and spoke.
“Do not worry. Goe-gun’s gaze cannot reach this far.”
“What? What makes you so confident!?”
Because, naturally, having worked inside Goe-gun’s castle for a thousand years, I knew every detail of Goe-gun and the Wondrous Castle’s detection range.
Of course, saying such a thing might earn me the label of madman or lead to torture as a spy, so I had to be careful.
“Are you familiar with Goe-gun’s puppets?”
I drew the designs of Goe-gun’s puppets on the ground, sketched their internal circuits and mechanisms, and slowly explained everything to Cheong Mun-gyu.
“Back when I was in the Lower Realm, I once examined the remains left by Goe-gun’s puppets. I also found traces of them among the remains of the Han Spirit Clan I saw previously. Based on that, I conducted an analysis…”
As my detailed explanation of the puppets continued, Cheong Mun-gyu frowned and waved his hand as though his head hurt.
“Fine, I understand for now. Let us say that is roughly the case. Still, just in case, be careful. This is not the territory of the Human Race, but of other races. You might draw unnecessary trouble from them!”
“Yes, I will be cautious.”
Oh Hyun-seok and I bowed our heads to Senior Brother Cheong Mun.
We listened to his nagging as we returned to the expedition’s base.
And then night fell.
* * *
Flash!
I went to the place where I had drawn the circuit and closed my eyes.
Beneath the ground.
I traced a long circuit that extended all the way down to Goe-gun’s Wondrous Castle.
Drawing the circuit and infusing it with spiritual power had taken about six months.
However, connecting it to the Wondrous Castle without the castle noticing and gradually seizing control of it had taken over four years.
Crackle…
“Still, it is finally over.”
These were the same circuits that had once taken a thousand years to seize.
I had grown weary of the Wondrous Castle’s circuits.
It felt as though the circuits were engraved into my memory, into my very soul.
Whoosh!
Oh Hyun-seok approached me, who had been focusing on the circuit deep into the night.
“…For now, can you at least roughly tell me how much you remember?”
“…”
I remained silent for a moment before opening my mouth.
Until now I had kept quiet out of fear of being discovered, but once my lack of memory was exposed, my heart felt lighter.
“I still have some memories of Manager Kim Young-hoon and Assistant Manager Kim Yeon.”
“I see…”
“Aside from that, there is nothing else. I am sorry.”
“No. What do you have to apologize for?”
He sighed and sat down beside me.
“…Since I did not know, from now on I will also look into elixirs or manuals that might help restore your memory.”
“…Thank you.”
“And.”
Oh Hyun-seok looked at me.
“It happened when I reached the Nascent Soul stage. I am telling you in case it might help.”
“What kind of help?”
“The moment I reached Nascent Soul and formed the primordial spirit within my body, I saw something like a revolving lantern.”
“A revolving lantern?”
“Yes. Every moment of my life flashed before my eyes in an instant. If this is something that commonly occurs upon reaching Nascent Soul, then perhaps you too might see such a lantern and recover some memories.”
“…I see.”
My eyes lit up.
If what he said was true, reaching Nascent Soul might also prevent the loss of my memories.
“Thank you very much. For now, I will aim for Nascent Soul and continue my training.”
No matter how late it was, it would not take another thousand years to reach Nascent Soul.
“After reaching Core Formation, my lifespan has increased to a little over six hundred years. There is no way I will fail to reach Nascent Soul from Core Formation Grand Completion within that time.”
And if Oh Hyun-seok’s words were true, reaching Nascent Soul would bring a sliver of hope.
“Of course, for now, let us try contacting Kim Yeon first.”
Hum…
I focused my mind, seized part of the Wondrous Castle’s control without the castle noticing, and then surveyed the interior of the Wondrous Castle through the eyes of one of its puppets.
“If it is the place where Kim Yeon stays, then probably…”
Buzz!
I moved the body of a bee puppet into the Wondrous Castle and searched for the inner garden within.
And finally—
“Found her!”
Buzz…
In the distance, I saw Kim Yeon wearing a pale pink robe, staring blankly at the ceiling.
First, I read the flow of the entire Wondrous Castle.
The massive current of pseudo-intent and madness flowing through the castle.
That current was converging toward Goe-gun’s workshop.
“Goe-gun is currently in the workshop. In that case…”
I descended before her with the bee puppet.
Kim Yeon stared blankly at the bee puppet.
I gazed for a moment at her haggard face, then moved my consciousness.
“Strange Star-Mind Scroll, activate.”
Hum!
The consciousness I had seized through the bee puppet stirred.
The Strange Star-Mind Scroll was a technique I had long since mastered to its peak.
And according to its final form, my consciousness began to unravel thread by thread.
Whoosh…
My consciousness unraveled like threads, just as Kim Yeon’s consciousness did.
It resembled the consciousness of ordinary people, yet while theirs each carried color, the threads of intent formed by the Strange Star-Mind Scroll were all transparent, like the domain of consciousness itself.
“Huh…?”
She flinched as the core of consciousness burst forth from the bee puppet.
Before she could react, I connected my thread of consciousness to hers through the bee puppet.
“W-what is this…”
—Yeon-ah.
Through the thread of my consciousness, I spoke to her.
“…Huh?”
It worked.
Therefore, I would now go to meet her.
Flash!
I raised a Ganghwan into the air beside me.
The clone from which my consciousness had separated stood next to me.
I infused the Ganghwan into Goe-gun’s circuit.
Crackle…
The Ganghwan raced through the circuit toward the Wondrous Castle and, upon arrival, settled into the bee puppet I had created.
And then “I” appeared before Kim Yeon’s eyes.
Hum…
To the naked eye, it looked like a round orb of energy.
But to her eyes, which knew how to handle consciousness, the true form of the Ganghwan would be visible.
—…Have you been well?
I conveyed my thoughts through the Ganghwan and asked.
Then she began to shed tears.
Drip, drip…
Her left hand had already been remodeled into a puppet arm.
“Even though I asked, he still went this far with the modifications.”
Hum…
Her current realm was at the same Core Formation Grand Completion stage as mine.
In my previous life, she had already surpassed Nascent Soul by this point, but in this life, without me by her side to block the Wondrous Castle’s madness and help interpret the Strange Star-Mind Scroll, she had apparently failed to reach Nascent Soul.
“W-what is this…”
—Quiet. Goe-gun might hear. Vibrate your consciousness and pour it into the illusion of me before your eyes. Imagine a thin thread before your eyes and pour your voice into that thread.
I slowly taught her the incantation of the Strange Star-Mind Scroll and helped her converse through consciousness.
[…Eun-hyun, Oppa…?]
—Yes, it is me.
I smiled bitterly.
—I am sorry for being late.
[Ah…]
“Ugh…”
Unable to hold back any longer, she let out a groan as tears streamed down her face.
Thud!
Kim Yeon collapsed to the ground, covered her face with her puppet arm, and continued to cry.
—…I am nearby right now. I sent a consciousness clone to you from nearby, so for now, are you able to leave the Wondrous Castle?
[…Yes, I can leave. However, if I go beyond a hundred li from the Wondrous Castle, Heavenly Person stage puppets will follow as surveillance.]
—Then that is fine. Come out with the Heavenly Person stage puppets for now.
At my words, her face visibly brightened.
—Let us meet again after so long. Come to where I tell you. First…
* * *
Crackle…
The connection through Goe-gun’s circuit was severed.
Connecting any further to the Wondrous Castle might allow the castle to notice.
“…Hyun-seok hyung-nim.”
“What is it?”
I stood up and spoke.
“I have made contact with Assistant Manager Kim Yeon.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. She is planning to come to the wasteland where we fought. Would you like to meet her as well?”
“Of course. She is an old colleague!”
Together with Oh Hyun-seok, I headed once more to the wasteland where we had sparred.
I looked up at the sky.
A massive moon hung there, illuminating the heavens.
“How strange.”
This Gwanghan Realm was far larger than the Water Realm.
It was so vast that merely thinking about it made my head spin, so how could there possibly be a “moon” floating in the sky?
“Perhaps that, too, is not actually a moon.”
I stared at the moon and fell into thought for a while.
And then—
Flash!
From afar, I sensed the presence of puppets approaching.
“The moment the puppets arrive, I will suppress their puppet circuits.”
If the puppets were separated from the Wondrous Castle, I could suppress their circuits as quickly as I wished.
Whether Nascent Soul or Heavenly Person stage, puppets were extremely ill-matched against me, who had handled Goe-gun’s circuits for a thousand years.
But as I watched Kim Yeon approach, surrounded by puppets, I felt something was wrong.
“Why is the color of her intent…”
Shiver!
I grabbed Oh Hyun-seok, who had been waiting beside me, with all my strength and dodged to the side.
Whoosh!
An old, wrinkled finger brushed past the empty space where I had been standing.
From afar, Kim Yeon shouted with a pale face.
“R-run away, Oppa!”
“Hehehe…”
A familiar voice rang out.
Crackle, crackle…
An old puppet who had reached the Four Pillars stage revealed itself from the darkness.
“When I came out of the workshop and saw my disciple’s intent all excited as she headed somewhere, I took a look. Her mind was filled with nothing but thoughts of you. So, was it Seo Eun-hyun? You have finally come to keep your promise!”
Goe-gun shouted while looking at me with eyes full of emotion.
The ridiculous promise I had once made to come to the Wondrous Castle and become Kim Yeon’s puppet.
Of course it had not been sincere, but it seemed he had believed it, for Goe-gun’s eyes were filled with anticipation.
Clack, clack, clack!
Several more puppets appeared beside Goe-gun.
Each one was a Four Pillars stage puppet.
And beside them appeared “Her,” who possessed the power of the peak of Four Pillars.
Oh Hyun-seok’s face twisted, and Kim Yeon’s face turned deathly pale.
“I agonized for a long time over what kind of puppet to turn you into. When I was young, there was a fairy tale. It was about a prince from another country coming to save a kingdom’s princess from a demonic beast. Seeing you declare without hesitation that you would become a puppet for your disciple, I thought you were like a prince. Yes, how about ‘Prince Seo’? No, ‘Crown Prince Seo’! I shall evolve you into ‘Crown Prince Seo’! Do you not like it?”
I watched him for a moment, then spoke calmly.
“Besides General Seo, I do not think I need anything else.”
Then I raised one hand.
“Come forth, True Original General Seo.”
Rumble…
From behind me, a massive figure possessing a presence no less than Goe-gun’s revealed itself.