The Puppet Show (3)
I introduced Yu Hwa and Gyubaek to the one who had come with me.
*Click, click-click...*
It was a puppet of Goe-gun.
A hunchbacked puppet that resembled an Origin Soul stage Goe-gun, its back adorned with a bee wing, just like the one I had witnessed during the loop in which I had been chased by Goe-gun, driven to suicide.
For a time the puppet fidgeted beside me, but then it suddenly began to gnaw at its own arm with mad frenzy and erupted into mad laughter.
*[Seo Hyul, Seo Hyul, Seo Hyul—where is he?! Where is Seo Hyul?! Where is Seo Hyul?! Seo Hyul, Seo Hyul, Seo Hyul—Seo Hyul Seo Hyul Seo Hyul...]*
Watching the suddenly deranged puppet, Gyubaek frowned.
“What is this unpleasant little toy?”
“It is not a toy. This is…”
I pointed at the puppet screaming for Seo Hyul.
“The direct link connecting to Seo Hyul’s arch-enemy.”
“Seo Hyul’s… arch-enemy?”
“Yes. Allow me to introduce him. He is known as Jo Yeon of Goe-gun, the puppet master whom Seo Hyul feared most before he achieved victory in the lower realm.”
Gyubaek showed no reaction, but Yu Hwa recoiled in shock.
“G-Goe-gun Jo Yeon!? Not only the lower realm—his name is infamous even across the heavenly realm!?”
She had clearly gathered information on Goe-gun after arriving in the lower realm, including the current situation in Gwanghan Realm.
While Yu Hwa feared the puppet master’s reputation, her eyes lingered on the artificial consciousness inside the puppet with growing interest.
“I barely managed to persuade the great Goe-gun and received his promise of assistance to face Seo Hyul. Unfortunately, the gentleman moves according to his own whims, so we could not fix a date. Starting today, one hundred and three days from now, he will begin bombardment on the Soul Heart Lake where Seo Hyul resides.”
“...!”
Yu Hwa’s eyes sparkled with excitement while Gyubaek’s expression grew complicated.
“Very well. Let us spend the remaining one hundred and three days devising how to lure Seo Hyul out and trap him.”
“Agreed.”
“Exactly as you say.”
Thus Yu Hwa, Gyubaek, and I gathered to plan our strategy against Seo Hyul.
---
After the meeting concluded, I stepped out of the Myeongwon Pavilion.
The sky had long since turned to night.
“Huu…”
Watching Yu Hwa and Gyubaek, I finally exhaled a sigh of relief, convinced we had escaped the crisis.
*I had truly thought I was being toyed with.*
Goe-gun was surprisingly logical. His logic was merely that of a madman, however, so it simply refused to mesh with the world.
He was a wise man who listened to any tale if it was framed within his own mad logic.
—Oh ho, what’s this? The puppet came to my Wondrous Castle of its own accord? What do you make of that? Since this fellow has walked into the path of evolution, I shall reward him as generously as possible...
—Allow me to greet you, venerable Goe-gun. I have come to make one small proposal.
—Let me see, name is Seo Eun-hyun? Among the General Seo, Crown Prince Seo, and Marquis Seo, choose the one that pleases you most.
—Do you perchance know that the Dragon King Seo Hyul has acquired a lover? I have prepared everything to marry him. If I hold his wedding and he becomes husband and wife with the beloved he desires, surely the filthy soul of Seo Hyul will become a slightly better being, will it not?
—...What?
—Dragon King is about to become married. I intend to invite you to his wedding ceremony. Please attend and assist so that Seo Hyul may become husband and wife with the beloved he holds dear.
—Seo Hyul... Seo Hyul... Seo Hyul... Seo Hyul will become husband and wife!? Then of course I must assist! This fellow has found the perfect idea—loving someone! I like it very much...
At the prospect of marrying Seo Hyul myself, Goe-gun was overjoyed and declared he would come to the lower realm on the appointed day to help with the ceremony.
—Then let us meet at that time. As for communication, I shall use this very puppet. Also, I have long admired your puppet arts, venerable one, and I would like to learn one technique from your disciple. May I permit your disciple to accompany me until the day of the ceremony?
—...
—Venerable Goe-gun?
—...Yet while speaking of Seo Hyul you subtly divert attention to your own evolution. Therefore, among the General Seo, Crown Prince Seo, and Marquis Seo, which will you choose?
—...I shall borrow you, Master. From now on, all communication will be through this puppet!
Thereafter I escaped the Wondrous Castle of Goe-gun together with Kim Yeon and somehow reached the lower realm.
Fortunately, by maintaining contact with Goe-gun through the stolen puppet and exchanging opinions, I learned that he had indeed decided to come to this place one hundred and three days later to carry out Seo Hyul’s marriage with my own hands.
*Since I have succeeded in drawing Goe-gun into the plan, the next step is to coordinate with them to obtain what I desire from Seo Hyul.*
With that thought settled, I approached the figure gazing at the moon from afar, wearing a pink palace robe, standing beside the Myeongwon Pavilion.
Kim Yeon.
“Yeon-ah, aren’t you cold?”
“...”
“Let’s go inside.”
I had succeeded in taking Kim Yeon from Goe-gun’s grasp. Yet her condition was strange.
Her consciousness no longer returned to her skull. Her eyes were glazed, and she spoke not a single word.
She merely manipulated small puppet toys before her eyes, finding amusement in them.
For tens of years.
After placing Yeon in Goe-gun’s care and leaving her abandoned for tens of years.
Kim Yeon had fallen into another mental collapse.
*Although I could not contact her in this life because of Seo Hyul, that was beyond my control, yet it was merely an excuse.*
If I had thought harder beneath Seo Hyul, I might have found a way to reach her.
Because the distance of Gigoego was too great, I had stayed away from her too long to avoid arousing Seo Hyul’s suspicion, lest I be forced to perform a soul journey that would reveal our connection.
I sat beside the stubborn Kim Yeon, watching her play with puppet toys.
After a while she fell asleep against my shoulder, worn out.
I gently embraced her with one arm.
*Zzt, zzt...*
Suddenly the fingertips on her fingers began to vaporize into electricity.
The remaining time—only one hundred and three days.
In the worst case, her entire body might vaporize within that span.
*Inside this, I will also aim to awaken Kim Yeon.*
If I kept speaking to her consciousness through Uihye Eunsan, perhaps it might be possible.
I carried the sleeping Kim Yeon into the temporary cave I had prepared nearby.
Then I stepped back outside and welcomed the guest waiting for me.
“You’re finally here… Hong Beom?”
I asked, staring at the giant centipede that had grown far larger than my memory.
The sensation was unmistakably that of Hong Beom.
Yet the creature was truly immense.
“Greetings, Master. I trust you have been well?”
“Ah… yes. And you…?”
I watched Hong Beom exude the aura of Core Formation and remained silent for a moment before asking.
“…You’ve reached the Core Formation realm so soon?”
“Yes. With the resources left behind by Master in the warehouse, I was able to ascend.”
“...How did you open the warehouse?”
I had never taught a method to dismantle the warehouse seal to Hong Beom, who possessed the consciousness of a four-year-old child at that time, decades ago.
“I dismantled the seal and entered. It was simple.”
“...”
I sighed inwardly. I had learned something about Hong Beom.
*This fellow is a genius.*
Before his intelligence awakened, I had thought of him merely as a centipede. After awakening, I realized he was an extraordinary talent.
*...If I’m not careful, I might fall behind in my training because of Hong Beom.*
“So, why have you come?”
“Since Master has arrived, of course I must greet you.”
“No, and for the moment, I am not your master. You should address me properly. Call me Seo Eun-hyun.”
“How could this disciple dare? From the day this disciple first saw Master, the fate of this servant was to live for Master. Please allow this disciple to serve you.”
What sort of nonsense was this?
It was one thing for a lower realm being to speak of fate, but for a heavenly realm being to peer so deeply into destiny was almost impossible.
In short, Hong Beom’s words were not a literal prophecy but a metaphor—proof that he wished to serve me so deeply.
*Wait, then why did he suddenly become my servant?*
Of course I was puzzled.
*Because of the Bongmyeongin...*
Upon reflection, the Bongmyeongin who had brought me Cheon-un had chosen this Hong Beom.
In a way, Hong Beom was the very embodiment of the luck granted to me.
*Is it merely a karmic connection formed through the luck of the Bongmyeongin...?*
For now, that was the only explanation I could accept.
“...Fine. Tell me the proper reason why you have become my servant, at least for now.”
“I did explain, but... if you find a proper reason later, I shall tell you.”
“Very well. Then was it today’s sake you came?”
“There are other matters as well. I wish to inquire where Master has been and what has transpired during this time.”
“Hmm, it shall be a lengthy tale. Very well...”
I sat beside Hong Beom and told him everything.
How I had betrayed Seo Hyul with Gyureon and fallen into the lower realm. How, together with Gyubaek—the fragment of Gyureon—I had once again achieved victory in the lower realm. How I had ascended again, gone to Geumsin Cheonroe-mun, and met with Jinseon...
*Zzt, zzt...*
I raised one hand and said.
“…That is how my hand became like this.”
“Impossible...”
Hong Beom stared at my fingertips and the flapping opposite arm and sighed.
Indeed.
The left hand had already completely vaporized into electricity and dispersed, while the right hand was already dissolving from the fingertips onward.
I was already dying.
—Submit...
Even now the whisper of Jinseon echoed in my ears.
“Master…! You must not die!”
“…What else can I do? This is the price of daring to covet the jade body of a Jinseon.”
“Such...!”
“Think positively. Thanks to the Heavenly Thunder Banner I received a blessing from the Jinseon, and though this state is nothing short of a curse, while being corroded by lightning my affinity for brain-attribute power has risen dramatically.”
—Submit...
Each time that mocking whisper rang out, my body began to vaporize into lightning.
It was terrifying, yet strangely fascinating.
—Submit...
When the whisper ceased and my body transformed into lightning, I would simultaneously gain immense knowledge of the lightning tribulation.
In other words.
If I overcame the whisper, I would gain understanding of the lightning attribute, the principle of lightning tribulation formation, the foundation of the Brain-Dao Gong method, and the principles of brain-attribute magical arts.
*How interesting.*
The whisper felt as though it were imparting knowledge itself.
I had witnessed the true form of Jinseon and accepted my limited lifespan in exchange for obtaining the enlightenment of thunder.
*Within these one hundred and three days...*
Praying that my body would not be consumed entirely, I gazed at the moon.