He Was Never a Sovereign
“Kwaaaaahhhhh!!!”
Seo Hyul suddenly let out a scream that was beyond anything I had ever heard before. It was horrifyingly loud, piercing the air like a blade through flesh.
Crack!
At the same instant, a chunk of Seo Hyul’s head turned to salt and began to slide down his neck, dripping onto the ground in long, grotesque strands.
Seo Hyul’s hand shook as he tried to catch the falling flesh, but even his fingers were turning to salt and slipping away.
“….”
“….”
Seo Ran and I stood frozen, unable to speak, watching the scene unfold in front of us.
‘This kid… what exactly did he touch?’
In any case, it was a good thing. A very good thing.
I gripped the sword hilt tightly, my eyes burning with excitement.
“Now.”
Seo Ran drew his law technique and pulled out the curse formula and the Five Elements Blood Curse Flag.
Seo Hyul had left himself wide open. It was the perfect moment to drive him out and reclaim my body.
The First Step. The Ultimate Front. The realm I had reached after squeezing, compressing, and sacrificing everything about myself, reaching beyond the Sword of Heaven-Shaking.
‘I didn’t need to seek it from the outside at all.’
The essence of martial might had always been inside me. Everything I had honed over the years was already there, waiting.
Why had Jang Ik named this realm the First Step? Because looking at oneself was the greatest act of reaching the Front of a true being.
Ziiiiing—
The One Sword I had compressed into a single blade, containing my very soul.
“Here I come.”
Whoosh!
I became the sword. A blade of pure light streaked toward Seo Hyul.
Just as Jang Ik had driven his saber into my inner world, I rammed straight into the filthy depths of Seo Hyul’s soul.
Covering the ‘me’ above with the ‘me’ called Seo Hyul.
In theory, the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram could have done it, but I didn’t rely on history. I used the ‘me’ of this very moment to expel the intruder.
That was the ‘true’ plan I had hidden from Seo Hyul and passed to Seo Ran.
With the powers of both the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram and the First Step activating at once, I took root inside Seo Hyul’s soul.
—————————
Chrrrrrrk!
The moment Seo Eun-hyun entered Seo Hyul’s interior, Seo Ran dipped the Five Elements Blood Curse Flag into it.
Chiiiiii—
A pitch-black Black Ghost Curse Banner bloomed beside him, turning the surroundings into a sea of waving black flags.
“Go.”
Chrrrrrraaaah!
Countless Black Ghost Curse Banners gathered and smashed together into a single mass, then drove downward toward Seo Hyul.
If Seo Eun-hyun used the First Step to retake control of the soul and dissolved Seo Hyul with the Affinity Diagram, Seo Ran would be the one to imprint the ‘pain’ Seo Eun-hyun had endured from the outside world.
The terror and agony I had felt upon seeing the True Immortal. The agony of forcing out his internal dan. The agony of losing Changheon in front of me. The loneliness and suffering endured for a thousand years. The moment I first awakened the Yin Soul Ghost Curse…
The loneliness of standing alone after leaving Kim Young-hoon behind every single time, digging deeper into the unknown of martial arts. The pain of leaving my master after paying respects, only to have to depart from the master alone. The pain of losing disciples. The pain of parting with countless connections just to send them away.
All of Seo Eun-hyun’s unimaginable suffering slammed into Seo Hyul’s mind.
If Seo Hyul had brainwashed Seo Eun-hyun to become Seo Hyul, then what Seo Ran and I were doing was the exact opposite: brainwashing Seo Hyul until he became Seo Eun-hyun again.
The perfect moment, as salt poured from his head and slid down in rivers, was the chance of a lifetime.
As I thought that,
Crack!
“Kkuh…!”
Seo Ran suddenly clutched his own head.
A portion of his skull also turned to salt and dripped down.
Not completely like Seo Hyul, but enough that half his head had turned to salt in an instant.
“W-what the—?”
Seo Ran was bewildered, but he quickly realized the reason.
The black Lin’er Spirit Formation, the Ying Lin Clan, the Han Spirit Clan, the Yeo Ta Clan… all the beings Seo Hyul had assimilated were turning to salt and pouring down in the same way.
And the same thing was happening across the entire Ilwol Cheonyeok.
—————————
Gwanghan Realm.
The Integration-stage commander Wei Lingxian who had helped pull Seo Hyul out of the Water Realm suddenly clutched his head and collapsed to the floor.
“Kuuuuugh!”
A chunk of his head turned to salt and began to slide away.
Not only him. The others Seo Hyul had conversed with in the Black Ghost Valley also had their heads turning to salt.
Especially Black Elder Heo Gwak.
“Kwaaaaah! Aaaaah! Aaaaaah!”
Three-quarters of his face had melted into salt.
Changheon was no different.
“Kwaaaaaah!”
Half his face melted into salt.
Every heavenly being Seo Hyul had spoken with—human, beast, or otherwise—began spitting salt or having their heads turn to salt and pour down.
The same was true for the Jin Dragon Alliance.
“Kyaah! Sister!”
“Gaaaaaaah!”
Watching Gyu-ryeon spit out salt, her younger sister Gyu-hwa’s face drained of color as she poured her life force into her.
Yet even Gyu-hwa, who had spoken with Seo Hyul and Oh Hye-seo, had part of her face turn to salt and fall away.
“Kyaaaaah!”
In the hidden layer of Bongmyeong-ju, the central territory of the Jin Dragon Alliance…
Inside a vast manor, a woman coughed up a mouthful of salt, then smiled meaningfully and half-closed her eyes.
“My, my lord has finally shown a crack, has he?”
The corner of her eye curled upward.
“Right now, I might even see through your past that has been hidden in darkness….”
Her hand stretched out into the air.
“Shall I look for Seo Hyul’s [Pillar]?”
Above the territory of Malryuk, through which one could enter the Sap-pung Territory…
Inside the Wondrous Castle flying rapidly overhead…
Goe-gun suddenly scrunched his face, then scratched his jaw.
Thud, thud—
Tu-duk—
A large quantity of salt the size of a baby’s fingernail fell from his chin.
Given how long he had known Seo Hyul, the amount was absurdly small.
“…? What’s this?”
Goe-gun paid it no mind and kept driving the Wondrous Castle.
—————————
Goryeok Realm.
On the shore above the vast fleet…
Inside the flagship of the ships…
The white-clothed woman who had been meditating with a crystal ball clutched her head.
“Uuuuh…”
Her face turned to salt and dripped away.
Chiiiiii—
Moments later she regenerated her face instantly, but her eyes opened wide in bewilderment.
“Why… me…?”
In Goryeok Realm, beside the fleet, a colossal mountain range rose…
Inside the eastern wing…
“M-Master!”
[Ugh! Don’t come! Damn it, what the hell is happening…!]
A portion of Song Jin’s skull turned to salt and poured down.
Seo Ran’s expression grew frantic as he watched.
And at some point, Seo Ran himself clutched his head.
“Ugh… my head…”
—————————
Anyone who had spoken even once with Seo Hyul—whether in Gwanghan Realm, Goryeok Realm, or the Water Realm—had their heads turning to salt and pouring down.
I felt it inside Seo Hyul’s soul, dissolving his existence.
‘Truly… there are countless of them.’
Not just the beings Seo Hyul had spoken with and implanted the arrangement into. Countless others had already been fully replaced and turned into Seo Hyul.
Seo Hyul had already taken over this world completely.
From inside his soul, I watched him constantly communicate with the ‘other Seos’ outside.
It was like watching a brain’s neurons firing.
Each individual Seo Hyul became a single nerve, exchanging opinions and information with countless others, forming a single ‘brain’ that thought and judged as one.
Feeling the horror of Seo Hyul, I asked the endless darkness of his inner world.
[Is that your secret?]
Anyone who had spoken with Seo Hyul would have the impression of him burned into their mind, regardless of cultivation level.
That impression itself became an arrangement that formed Seo Hyul’s personality inside the person.
And anyone who acquired that personality would instantly develop affection toward Seo Hyul.
That was why everyone he met praised him so highly and why people in the Water Realm trusted him absolutely.
In the darkness, I recited the name of the technique that had spilled out with my astonishment.
“Celestial Technique, Muddy Soul Filling the Heaven. That’s your name, isn’t it?”
The more Seo Hyul met people, the more he revealed his true self to them, the more he imprinted ‘himself’ upon their hearts… the more Seo Hyul was created inside them, and the more they performed actions for the sake of Seo Hyul in the realm of instinct.
Seo Hyul’s plans never failed.
His predictions never went wrong.
The reason was simple: every person he had ever met had no choice but to move in ways that benefited him.
[What I saw that day wasn’t talent. It was just a fact.]
The countless human relationships I had witnessed when Seo Hyul had been assimilated. The self-confidence that those relationships could be twisted to serve me.
It wasn’t talent or confidence. It was simply a fact—a chillingly precise ability.
Seo Hyul kept growing.
The Seos he met would eventually become Seo Hyul themselves.
If those Seos filled the world, this world would become nothing but Seo Hyul.
‘The one good thing is that all the Seos share the memories of the True Immortal they saw in the Affinity Diagram.’
The darkness was extremely noisy.
I slowly pushed Seo Hyul out of my body and watched the noisy, joyful discussion he was having with himself.
Ziiiiing—
Countless Seos conversed in their own language.
In normal times they would have been incomprehensible, but because they were infected by Seo Hyul, I could at least make out fragments.
―Dangerous.
―Must protect □□. That’s all I need to stay safe.
―No, I don’t even need □□ anymore.
―Yeah, let’s force them all into one place.
―Where should we push them?
―Somewhere the most useless one can handle it.
―Useless on what standard?
―Whether the plan fails or not.
―Then…
Swish—
For some reason, billions of bad gazes seemed to be staring at me from the darkness.
―I’ll take responsibility for failing to parasitize the second-grade danger entity. It’s on me.
‘I see. So that’s how it is…’
I felt I understood the system called Seo Hyul.
At that moment, beyond the thick darkness…
‘Hm?’
I saw the Taiji. The eternal cycle of yin and yang, history itself.
Somehow, I felt the faint aura of countless celestial beasts inside the Taiji.
And as the Taiji spun, it shattered the ‘darkness.’
Kwaaaah—
At the same time, from beyond the darkness, I saw something I could never have believed.
A clean light that should never exist inside Seo Hyul suddenly burst forth from the darkness.
[What!?]
I was stunned, but at the same time my eyes blazed.
‘A chance to uncover the truth of Seo Hyul!’
Whoosh!
I shot toward the gap in the light using the power of the First Step.
Kwaaduk—
I became a sword and rammed into the gap of light.
My mind widened the gap, and the Taiji began to flow inside.
And then…
Ziiiiiiiiing—
[Cough!]
Both me and this strange Taiji, without properly seeing inside the light, were blasted out by the focused mental attacks of billions of Seos.
“Ha, hahaha, ahahahaha…!!!”
I laughed with my true voice.
That meant the original body I had possessed—the flesh of Seo Eun-hyun—still had control.
My body was turning to salt, but I had seized control of the body stolen by Seo Hyul.
I laughed madly.
“Seo Hyul! Seo Hyul! Seo Hyul!!!”
Until now, I had thought of Seo Hyul’s true identity as the judge of the Underworld, linked to Yu Ho-deok the Underworld True Monarch or, as I had just learned, Yu Su-ryeon the Underworld Ghost Monarch, Hae-nyeon the Goryeok True Monarch, or others.
But the moment I glimpsed his light, I realized something.
“You… were never a sovereign.”
Not a True Monarch, not a Heavenly Lord.
“No, you were never even…”
Veins bulged on my eyes.
The absurdity of Seo Hyul’s true identity hit me like a truck.
“You weren’t a True Immortal…! Right?”
Neither of us was a True Immortal.
Yet we had both pretended to be True Immortal-level beings, creating an absurdly ridiculous farce.
I a helper of True Immortals?
What a ridiculous thing to say.
He hadn’t thought of helping me at all. He had simply been desperately acting out being a True Immortal in front of me—a pitiful creature.
—————————
In the hidden layer of Jin Dragon Alliance Bongmyeong-ju…
Kwuaaah—
One of the undead in the interior seized the neck of the white-clothed woman, Oh Hye-seo.
The undead’s face changed.
His complexion changed.
A handsome youth in pure white robes.
The undead, now in Seo Hyul’s form, whispered in a cold, expressionless voice I had never heard from him before.
“What kind of trick is this, young miss Hye-seo?”
“Hehe, why do you say that, my lord? Did the little girl peek at a secret and get upset?”
“…For now, I should thank you. Because of you, I finally remembered the unpleasant feeling after a very long time.”
“That’s great! You’ve grown a much more human-like face, haven’t you? Ufufu…”
Seo Hyul, with his cold face, threw Oh Hye-seo aside.
“As for you, young miss Hye-seo, you’re human yet inhuman.”
“Hmm, hearing those words from my lord makes me sad. Aren’t both of us two-faced?”
Seo Hyul stared at Oh Hye-seo for a moment, then recovered his usual smile.
“Hehe, I deliberately removed that part, but since young miss Hye-seo never had it to begin with, I suppose it’s just interesting that it was missing.”
“Ahahaha, that can’t be. There’s no way one like me exists in this vast world.”
“Hehe…”
The man wearing a mask and the woman wearing only a mask looked at each other with smiling faces.
“In any case, it won’t do. Since that incident was a little dangerous for me too, I’ll have to give you some education this time.”
“I’m grateful you told me this method is effective.”
“Hehe…”
Seo Hyul reached out his hand toward Oh Hye-seo with a smiling face.
—————————
“Hehe…”
Still an unpleasant laugh.
Seo Hyul looked at me with the bodies of other races.
Truly an unpleasant sight.
But I felt pity for him as I looked at it.
Earlier, I had seen light inside Seo Hyul’s soul and thought it was an illusion.
But now I knew it was real.
His soul might have truly been like the Garden of Eden once.
“Poor thing. Haeryong Clan Lord Seo Hyul. You trapped your own heart deep in that bottomless pit and abused yourself. What a miserable existence you must have lived.”
“….”
“Open your heart. If the wounds from before are the problem, I have martial arts that can heal the heart.”
“…Hehe.”
Seo Hyul smiled faintly.
“What interesting things you say, Seo Helper. That was just a joke I showed you. There are no such things as hearts in this world.”
“…Is that so?”
I stared straight into Seo Hyul’s eyes and said.
Drip, tu-duk, tu-duk…
Gradually, Seo Hyul lost control inside me, the influence of whatever ‘something’ he had seen weakened, and the salt-covered flesh began to regenerate.
“You’re always smiling.”
“Hehe…”
The guy was a liar.
His words, his actions, his face, even his heart—all of them had been turned into lies by this pitiful monster.
Then what kind of lie was the smile he kept making?
===
Author’s Note: Seo Hyul might simply have needed someone to talk to…
The goal of progressing the central-episode arc is to break Seo Hyul until he no longer smiles anymore. Seo Eun-hyun and I must do it.
I, for one, want to see the real, desperate screams of Seo Hyul.