The Ghostly Old Flame and a Reckless Request
I asked, startled.
“Kang Min-hee?”
‘Even after searching for Black Ghost Valley through Seo Lip’s body, the only information I could get was that it was practically impossible to meet her at that level…’
It seemed the disciples who had gone to the Ghost Realm might actually know something about her.
“So she’s in the Ghost Realm?”
“No. According to the information our disciples brought back, she’s on the ‘path’ heading from the Gwanghan Realm into the Ghost Realm.”
“The path to the Ghost Realm…”
‘I’ve never heard of anything like that before.’
Jinma-gye was adjacent to the Gwanghan Realm, so there were quite a few passages leading to the Demon Realm.
Each major sect had at least one entrance on the border with Jinma-gye.
But the middle realms—such as Goryeok, Jichukcheon-yeok, and Myeonggwi—were all significantly far apart, making formal passages nearly impossible.
Understanding my intent, Jeon Myeong-hoon offered additional explanation.
“It’s an extremely unusual passage that only opens through the Seopmyeong Ship. According to the information our disciples received, it’s not a formal route but a kind of ‘shortcut.’”
“A shortcut?”
A dimension itself was a hole; how could a shortcut even exist in one?
‘Well, I don’t need to know the details. It’s not like I’ll be making any shortcuts myself.’
“Hmm… so you’re suggesting we use that shortcut through Kang Min-hee?”
“Yes. Reach out to her. She’s an old colleague; surely she’ll agree to an old friend’s request.”
“Hmm… why me? You could just call her yourself.”
At that, Jeon Myeong-hoon let out a light chuckle.
“When I ascended to the Nascent Soul stage, I saw a river of memories. Most of them blurred past too quickly to recall fully, but quite a few remained clear.”
“…And so?”
“Back when we worked together, Kang Min-hee absolutely hated me.”
‘Yeah, in the department, it was only Oh Hye-seo who I could even pretend to be friendly with on the surface.’
The follow-up words from him left me speechless.
“And in the company memories, early on I was the one Kang Min-hee was closest to. She even agreed with me in Deungsunhyang. So if it’s about someone she was close to, she’ll probably listen.”
“…Me and Kang Min-hee… Yeah, early on it was like that.”
“So I’m asking you to make the request. If I call her again, I’ll probably get cursed or ripped off because of her temper.”
“….”
‘I doubt she’d curse me; she’d probably just block me instantly.’
Still, I reconsidered.
‘Isn’t it been nearly a century? Could Kang Min-hee still dislike me that much?’
To me, the memory was so distant that the feeling had faded, but I didn’t want to contact her directly after all these years.
On the other hand, it would be strange for me to bring up the past with Jeon Myeong-hoon without her permission.
‘Since I took Taesu’s place, reaching out officially to the Black Ghost Valley side might get me in to see her…’
I wondered whether Kang Min-hee’s feelings for me had truly faded or still lingered.
‘…Maybe I should just call her once.’
I weighed Jeon Myeong-hoon’s persuasion and whether I should reach out to Kang Min-hee.
In my early days at the company.
Actually, Kang Min-hee and I had carried on an affair in secret, away from the rest of the department.
***
Suddenly.
I opened my eyes.
Even in my main body, I shared the same emotions toward Kang Min-hee that I did.
‘How does Kang Min-hee see me now?’
Kang Min-hee and I had a strange relationship.
At first, we were both fresh-faced new employees, colleagues, and we both secretly harbored a bizarre admiration for the idea of office romance. After one company outing, on the way home, we simply decided to try dating.
We broke up after three weeks.
We were a terrible match.
And like most things like this, our relationship quickly became awkward afterward.
In the same department, even though we had only dated for three weeks, having a former boyfriend and former girlfriend in the same space was suffocating in itself.
Kang Min-hee was the type who could maintain a cheerful public image but was hard to get close to privately, so she didn’t feel much attachment to the company. I was the opposite, so I bonded with Hyunseok-hyung and the other department members despite Jeon Myeong-hoon’s harassment.
After a simple and awkward discussion, Kang Min-hee decided to quit.
But just before she resigned, a project proposal she had written as a joke happened to catch the president’s eye. The president was deeply impressed, summoned her publicly to praise her, and raised her starting salary by three grades.
She was about to be promoted to section chief soon. Unable to waste the chance, she decided to endure the awkwardness with me and remain in the department with the goal of a transfer.
…Of course, the transfer failed because of Jeon Myeong-hoon’s interference.
‘I was still attached to the company then, and I worried I might not find another job if I left, so I stayed…’
We continued in awkward silence. Kang Min-hee was promoted faster than me, and at some point she began ignoring me, openly showing her dislike.
It went beyond awkwardness; our opinions genuinely clashed. Since we were close in rank, I occasionally asked her for work-related advice, but soon I started going to Hyunseok-hyung instead.
Moreover, our relationship had been only partially based on the admiration for office romance and partially on the excitement after the company outing, so there was no real affection between us.
We were, quite literally, strangers now.
‘Looking back, the reason I could endure Jeon Myeong-hoon’s harassment was because I was strong-willed and, far more than that, consumed by the suffocating nature of my relationship with Kang Min-hee, so I didn’t care about him much.’
That bad blood continued all the way to Deungsunhyang. On the surface she smiled when speaking to me, but whenever there was actual work to do, she kept her distance.
On the first day, Oh Hye-seo and Kim Yeon had searched for a place to stay with me, and Kang Min-hee had gone to find a carriage with others—because of me.
“…That’s also a memory.”
I returned to my lodging and let out a soft laugh.
It was something from thousands of years ago.
When I was nothing more than a fetus.
But Kang Min-hee was only about a hundred years old; I had no idea how she still felt.
“….”
I leaned against the wall for a moment, lost in thought, then decided to communicate with Kang Min-hee through my main body later.
‘First, let me gather more information through Seo Lip.’
If she remained the same as before—liking and disliking the same things—then she would definitely feel the same way about me.
If she had changed since then, there was a chance her feelings about me had shifted as well.
I immediately headed to the next lodging and greeted the elders of Black Ghost Valley.
“Student Seo Lip greets the elders of Black Ghost Valley.”
“Mm, a polite young man.”
“Haha, when we were taking the exam, I saw it all. For curses, you’re far superior to those vile spirits from the Black Ghost Sect. The sect is fortunate to have such talent…”
They reached out to pat my shoulder, but I subtly dodged and asked my question.
“By the way, I have one thing I’d like to ask. When I first came here, I didn’t know much. May I ask you seniors for some guidance?”
The two Nascent Soul curse sorcerers from Black Ghost Valley looked at me with puzzled expressions.
“Hmm, a new disciple of the Black Ghost Sect—didn’t you receive one of the Ghost Kings as a temporary host?”
“Hold on, senior. You haven’t taught me the basics of Black Ghost Valley?”
They sensed my internal proportions and asked.
But I hadn’t asked them because I didn’t want to bother Ratio.
I had asked Ratio about Kang Min-hee when I had the chance, but he had only answered that he had heard the name.
‘Ratio is an old soul, so he probably didn’t pay much attention to recent disciples or the sect’s recent operations, aside from a few incidents…’
[Ah, juniors, don’t misunderstand. This old man simply isn’t interested in the sect’s major affairs, aside from the long-cherished dream of merging with the Black Ghost Sect. Too old-fashioned…]
“Hmm, that makes sense. A Ghost King this ancient would understand.”
Nascent Soul elder.
Wihom and Geupun told me to ask them anything I wanted.
“First, who is the current highest leader of the Gwanghan Realm’s Black Ghost Valley?”
“Hmm… it depends. The highest cultivation level is among the Four Pillars, specifically the Black Elder Yuiryu who has reached Integration. He passed away three thousand years ago and is enshrined as a Ghost King in the Mausoleum. Though he stands before the Integration stage, he has already discarded his human flesh and is heading to the main origin of the Ghost Realm, so he’s practically nonexistent….”
“Next would be the Black Elder Heui, a mid-level Four Pillar; the Black Elder Heol, also mid-level Four Pillar; and the Black Elder Heogak, an early-stage Four Pillar—these three form the highest leadership of the sect. In fact, they are the sect’s highest elders.”
His explanation continued.
From what I heard, Black Ghost Valley was not a single-sage rule like the Heavenly Thunder Sect or the Sky-Cleaving Sect, but a council system where the Black Elders together handled all matters.
“Understood. Then who are the mid-level elders of the sect?”
“Well, the heads of the Ghost Soul Pavilion, Ghost Harmony Pavilion, Poetry Pavilion, Script Pavilion, and Medical Pavilion—all sit beneath the Black Elders.”
The Ghost Soul Pavilion managed the Seopmyeong Ship and navigation.
The Ghost Harmony Pavilion handled techniques, managed the Ghost Kings, performed rites toward the realm, and communicated with the Ghost Realm main origin.
The Poetry Pavilion maintained the sect’s discipline and law.
The Script Pavilion managed the entry requirements and the sect’s overall administration.
The Medical Pavilion assigned and managed rewards for various sect problems in a duty-based system.
“Elders, among the recent Black Ghost Valley disciples, who stands out the most?”
They paused for a moment in thought.
“Well… even if we consider only recent arrivals, there’s only one that stands out.”
“That’s right. There were many outstanding individuals who joined, but that person is the finest among them…”
I read their true intent.
They clearly felt deep respect.
“The current head of the Ghost Harmony Pavilion, the Nascent Soul Four Pillar performer Elder Kang Min-hee, is that person.”
“Impressive. In just under a hundred years since she began cultivating, she’s already aiming for the Four Pillars from the Nascent Soul stage.”
“Oh… She’s under a hundred years old?”
“Yes. She’s a very promising talent.”
When Kang Min-hee’s name came up, my eyes lit up with curiosity.
“Impressive… Do you know how to enter the Black Ghost Valley’s Ghost Soul Pavilion or the other pavilions?”
“To enter the Five Great Pavilions, you first need merit points. If you gather more than a thousand merit points, you can choose one of the Five Great Pavilions and enter.”
“Otherwise, once you reach the Nascent Soul stage and become an elder, you can become the pavilion master of the respective sect and enter.”
‘Merit points or Nascent Soul stage…’
I decided I would gather as much merit as possible or reach Nascent Soul as quickly as I could.
Having heard a few anecdotes and facts about Kang Min-hee, I returned to my lodging and thought.
‘Kang Min-hee hasn’t changed from a hundred years ago.’
If that was true, the probability that her dislike and awkwardness toward me had faded was low.
‘Then I have no choice but to leave it to Jeon Myeong-hoon.’
***
“…You want me to contact Kang Min-hee?”
“Yes. You know what happened a year and a half before we fell into Deungsunhyang—I and Kang Min-hee fought fiercely.”
“…Ah! I remember hearing about that from the department head. He said the two of you raised your voices at the office.”
“Yeah… Now that I think about it, it happened during work hours, but how did you come to know about it?”
“Hmm, it’s not that important. Still, after I asked my uncle to stop her from transferring departments, I barely spoke to her afterward… but you want me to contact her?”
I sighed at the lack of useful information from this guy.
‘Me and Jeon Myeong-hoon… the worst combination for Kang Min-hee.’
Given her personality, she would refuse our request for a shortcut with a firm no.
The two people she hated most were the ones asking; what possible reason would she have to help?
‘And I didn’t want to force the issue just because of a couple of Heavenly Thunder Sect disciples…’
I felt a growing unease as I thought about it but dismissed it.
“…Well, there’s nothing I can do. If that’s the case, I’ll ask someone else.”
“Who?”
“Kim Yeon.”
I stood up and said.
‘Well, I was planning to go rescue her anyway. I should head there a little earlier. Running away is no longer an issue.’
“Come with me. We’re going to meet Goe-gun.”