Salt of the Soul (1)
Yuk Yo’s lips parted.
“This world is a real world. It is not simply a grand formation.”
“…A real world? One… the people here lack any sense of reason.”
“Well… To be honest, I do not know how the Church Master judges it. However, from my perspective, the Goryeok Realm that my father took me to felt like a dream world. When my father brought my siblings and me here, Mother advised us never to forget ourselves, saying it was a world of dreams.”
“What…?”
“From my point of view, that world was nothing but a dream. It was false. The Church Master knows how my conduct was in the Goryeok Realm… In that false world, it was the world of ‘non-humans’.”
“No, wait… Do not use words like ‘non-human.’ They are extremely unpleasant.”
“Ah… I am sorry. Although my memories were sealed, I unconsciously thought of that place as such and lived a bit recklessly.”
My head ached as a strange truth slammed into me.
‘Our world is a dream?’
“…Yet it is absurd. If our world is a dream, then what exactly is ‘us’ in this world? Do our memories mean that some legends and tales of this world were born, and people who correspond to us exist?”
“Correspondents… Rather, from my viewpoint, it is the opposite. Ordinary people living normally suddenly have strange dreams and their personalities change. Sometimes even royalty experience it.”
“…Then you knew the Goryeok Realm was a dream world yet followed your father anyway? And if so, who is the king of Bongrae Country now?”
“First… My father said that if one enters the dream world, one can enjoy enormous pleasure and immortality for hundreds or thousands of years, and can return anytime. He spoke of places like Shennongxiang or Wulongtuoyuan. He told us to simply enjoy ourselves for a while and brought us along. At that time, my father was in the form of a dragon race, so we thought he was guiding us to a holy place.”
“…”
Sorrow etched itself across Yuk Yo’s face.
“But the moment my father arrived in the dream world, the Goryeok Realm, he sealed our memories. He extracted the true blood of my siblings and me, who shared his bloodline, and filtered it to draw out the dragon race’s bloodline. Just as I once thought the world a dream, he thought of this world as a dream as well. And because he believed we born in that dream were nothing but illusions, he felt no guilt.”
I listened in stunned silence to her shocking words.
“Whether fortunate or unfortunate, being the youngest, I was almost without dragon bloodline. My father treated me as scrap and did not extract it. Anyway… My father roughly declared me a princess and released me. To escape the terrifying hands of my father, I did everything possible. I stole Jin Ma-yeol’s secret art and somehow fled.”
“…Why did you steal Jin Ma-yeol’s secret art?”
“At the time, I thought it was simply because it looked tempting. But subconsciously, it was to return to this world.”
“To return to this world?”
“Yes. Although my body was at the level of a crippled one, I still possessed dragon bloodline. The dragon race is the only species in the Goryeok Realm that can read the sea routes from the depths. I planned to transform into a dragon race, find Bongrae-do, and return. Of course, without memories, I did not even know what I wanted myself.”
My mouth fell open at the shocking truths.
Seo Ran beside me gaped as well.
“First, let me explain the conditions for regaining your senses in this world.”
“W-well, hurry up and speak.”
I examined Yuk Yo’s will.
‘It is not a lie.’
Not only her will, but her heartbeat and other reactions all spoke of truth.
‘And given the situation, there is no reason for her to come all this way to lie to us.’
“The fastest way to regain your senses in this world is to have someone who values you.”
“Someone who values you…?”
“That is correct. In the Goryeok Realm or any other world, the more people who consider themselves, the deeper their hearts, and the higher the stature of those who think of you, the faster you will regain your senses. In other words, the ‘accumulated connections’ determine how quickly you regain your senses in this world.”
“…”
“…”
Seo Ran and I exchanged glances.
I felt a great many things snap into place.
The disciples of the Wugeuk Sect, Kang Min-hee of the Gwanghan Realm, the disciples of the Geumsin Cheonroemun in the Water Realm, and even the Gaeyeol-level sages…
And those who gave me tremendous interest the moment I regressed this time—[beings capable of altering fate]…
Then what exactly was Seo Ran?
Seo Ran, looking startled, spoke.
“Master… Think of me so deeply in the Underworld…?”
“It is not exactly that… Even those with masters outside seem not fully to have regained their senses…”
“Then what is it…?”
Yuk Yo shrugged as if it were nothing.
“Prince Seo Ran… Are you not receiving the love of high-statured beings?”
“Who would receive such love from me…?”
“Is there no one you can think of? Perhaps parents, acquaintances you know, friends, or ancestors…?”
“My parents… are not high-statured, but ordinary… Friends and acquaintances all came here with me… Ancestors… Well, the grandfather dragon king is not something I particularly like to think of.”
He clutched his head in utter confusion.
Yuk Yo shrugged again.
“Perhaps you received the love of a high-ranking being without knowing it. Congratulations.”
Seo Ran’s face paled.
“Is that… good…?”
Seo Ran fell into his own confusion, and I sank into deep thought.
‘Strange.’
Yuk Yo spoke the truth, yet it was far too bizarre.
A sense of unease gripped me.
For this world to be real, it was too strange in countless ways and deviated from the other worlds.
Moreover, the fact that this world was always tailored for us—something even Yuk Yo herself did not know—was absurd.
I wondered whether Yuk Rin was lying or whether Yuk Yo was mistaken.
A world filled with bizarre contradictions and unease.
That was Bongrae-do.
‘And what exactly is Seo Ran.’
According to Yuk Yo, there were three conditions for regaining senses in this world.
There are many beings who value the entrants.
The hearts of those who value the entrants are deep.
The stature of those who value the entrants is high.
‘Could Seo Ran also be receiving the gaze of some true immortal?’
I looked at Seo Ran with suspicious eyes.
I might not know.
Even in the early days of this life, had he not been entangled with some high being of the Underworld and fallen into the Ghost Realm?
Seo Ran might be the one who was eyeing the Underworld messengers after learning the Ghost Dao Holy Mother technique.
I rubbed my aching head and thought.
‘Then those who will regain their senses the fastest are the executives of the Wugeuk Sect, especially Yeon Wi and Jeon Myeong-hoon.’
Yeon Wi and Jeon Myeong-hoon were already famous figures in the lower realms even among the Wugeuk Sect disciples, so they would regain their senses the quickest.
Since Yuk Yo had originally been a character of this world, she might have regained her senses at nearly the same time as Seo Ran and me.
I cleared my mind and asked.
“Then what is Yuk Rin aiming for, and what is his final goal? He seems to have some relationship with Jin Ma-yeol, but what kind? Why does Jin Ma-yeol want you?”
“First, regarding Jin Ma-yeol, he wanted not only the Dragon Transformation Disguise Technique I stole but also ‘my identity.’ The identity of the Seongran Princess of Jeongryong Palace, not the princess of Bongrae Country. If I married him, he could quickly gain enormous benefits in Bongrae Country and become the king or grand minister of the Bongrae Kingdom.”
“…Wait.”
I sensed something odd in Yuk Yo’s words and glared at her.
“If this world is your hometown, why did you simply watch us leading the yokai and overthrow the Bongrae Kingdom?”
“Well… The Church Master is not going to rule the Bongrae Kingdom for a thousand years anyway, is he? And I know the Church Master’s character well. Although he earned the title of Demon King, he committed little plunder and caused no human casualties. Once the Church Master returns to his original world, he can use the power of the protective dragons who guard the royal family of Bongrae Country to exterminate the yokai and reclaim the royal family.”
“…”
“…Eh…? Are you going to kill our mother, the current queen?”
“…No, I will not kill her.”
“Thank you!”
Yuk Yo smiled brightly as if she had expected it and bowed.
My head hurt.
I had heard too many shocking truths.
But surprisingly, there were still more things I had to hear.
“…What is Yuk Rin’s goal?”
The moment Yuk Rin’s name came up, Yuk Yo’s expression darkened.
“…My father… When he was born, he did not possess much dragon bloodline. Yet through sheer effort, he succeeded in transforming into a dragon race. However… He did not seem satisfied with that.”
The truth about Yuk Rin spilled from her lips.
“Among my father’s relatives is a person who owns the sea area where the original Bongrae-do once existed—the Anglong Sea Area. The Anglong Palace Lord, Yuk Ung.”
“Yes, I have a rough idea.”
“That Yuk Ung… Unlike my father, possessed the flesh and blood of a nearly perfect dragon race. My father always envied him. However, for some reason, he suffered from a disease where his blood boiled and he died. He could not overcome the illness. Moreover, his blood boiled away entirely, so although his dragon race body remained, there was no blood. He died like a mummified corpse.”
I could guess Yuk Rin’s plan from her continuing words.
“Could it be… that he did the dirty deed I was thinking of?”
“Probably yes. My father decided to take the body of Palace Lord Yuk Ung of Anglong Palace. And to gather the insufficient dragon bloodline, he came to this world, gave birth to us, extracted the dragon bloodline, and poured it into Palace Lord Yuk Ung’s body. Then he uprooted the entire Anglong Island under his control and turned it into a sea island beneath Jeongryong Palace, hiding Palace Lord Yuk Ung’s body there.”
“…”
“And using a very peculiar secret art, he split his own soul and hid it in Palace Lord Yuk Ung’s body on Anglong Island.”
Creek…
Only now did I realize why Yuk Rin had surrendered so obediently to us.
“It was not his main body…!”
His main body had been hidden in the sea island beneath Jeongryong Palace!
“However, it is strange.”
Seo Ran showed his will.
“Prince Kim Young-hoon, the Church Master here possesses eyes that see the essence of the soul. Yet he could not distinguish between main body and split body…”
“There is a secret art that prevents one from distinguishing main body and split body.”
In my cold voice, Seo Ran’s eyes narrowed sharply.
“And the dragon race who learned it… How many are there… No, how many are there? Anyway, there are.”
“No way.”
“Yes.”
I recalled the face of one person I was sick of.
A ‘fufu’ sound echoed by my ear, and my shoulders felt strangely stiff.
“Seo Hyoel. And Takhonmancheon.”