Laugh. Only You Will Laugh.
A soft, familiar hand brushed across Kim Yeon’s cheek.
She realized in that instant that she was watching her own body fade away.
“Hyang-hwa-ya. Do you know what this is?”
Her voice trembled as she spoke to the white-robed figure in front of her.
“I don’t want to lose you. I hope no one ever leaves my side again. Even Gwang-han-nim told me my feelings were love. But….”
She clutched the shrinking corpse tighter.
“You said you’d bury me here and fly away.”
The world’s law began to return. Her power flowed back into her veins, and a flying-bird pattern was etched onto her cheek.
“But… how am I supposed to let you go? I came all the way here because I decided to save you. What do I do with you…? I….”
Sarak—
A gentle hand caressed her cheek again.
The hand belonged to Buk Hyang-hwa’s soul, now a radiant white figure.
Her soul, reborn inside Baek-ran’s body, had returned to the most beautiful appearance of her youth.
[Do you remember?]
Her voice was warm as she looked at Kim Yeon.
[A human being consists of three parts: the qi of the flesh, the soul of the spirit, and the fate bestowed by heaven.]
Her eyes met Kim Yeon’s.
[Before it became salt, I begged the heavens. Even if I died, I wanted to leave something behind for you. A tiny something. I prayed so earnestly for the bird that once held my fate mark. That my heart would be passed on to the one who thinks of me… and then.]
The flying bird on Kim Yeon’s cheek reached out and touched Buk Hyang-hwa’s hand.
[My heart… was not in vain.]
Kim Yeon remembered the words she had once heard.
Jongmyeongja was more than a single fate. It was a single fate appearing in multiple people as talent.
Therefore the fate that lay at the core of both her own mark and Goe-gun’s was identical.
She touched her own cheek, bewildered.
Why had Goe-gun’s fate mark transferred to her?
At first she had simply thought Goe-gun was her master.
But now she understood.
It was Buk Hyang-hwa’s heart—prayerful, desperate—reaching the heavens for a moment and transferring to her.
[I know it’s still difficult to understand.]
Buk Hyang-hwa pulled her close.
[To you, to the one you love, and… everyone else. I will give you the greatest gift I can leave behind.]
A swirl of pure white light enveloped the two of them.
Buk Hyang-hwa, who had traveled to this world while researching the Salt Crystal’s magic circle connected to the Salt Mountain world, now glowed with the same pure white light.
The light gathered into a single white orchid blooming in its place.
The Jongmyeongja mark that had been on her face in her past life flared once, then completely burned away in the white salt light, its ashes sinking into Kim Yeon’s mark.
And Buk Hyang-hwa’s soul began to scatter like white petals into the void.
Jing—
A vast resonance echoed. Kim Yeon found herself standing before a colossal bird.
The laws of the Salt Mountain world had blurred and she had been pulled into another dimension.
Her spirit trembled as she looked at the giant bird in front of her.
“Who… who are you?” she asked, voice shaking.
The bird spoke.
“I am the key. A Jongmyeongja for liberation.”
“A holy child born equal to you from the great god.”
It continued.
“The fate transmitted to you will demand payment from you, the slaves of death, if you wish to accept me.”
“Choose: you who stand in line behind Cheo-geo Gwang-han Cheon-wang among the slaves of death—will you accept me?”
Kim Yeon stared at the bird for a long moment, then opened her mouth.
“I will accept you. Because you are… no, because you are….”
She stepped forward and embraced the bird.
“Because it is also Hyang-hwa’s fate….”
The bird instantly took Buk Hyang-hwa’s form and smiled faintly.
At the same moment, a voice echoed directly into Kim Yeon’s mind.
The Jo Clan carries a curse of mental degeneration, and Buk Hyang-hwa carries a curse of total paralysis. Since you chose me, you will have to pay with a curse of blood clotting….”
“Any curse will do. I will hold you in my arms and carry you.”
And from the darkness came a quiet laugh.
[: You can’t even understand your own master’s feelings, nor the heart of the child who gave you the key. You dare accept a lifetime’s work while carrying only Gwang-han’s radiance?]
“It is not carried by Gwang-han’s radiance. And… I do understand their hearts.”
Kim Yeon’s eyes glowed soft pink.
Soft pink threads of light bloomed around her.
Pasa… pasa… pasa—
One by one, soft pink plum blossoms began to bloom around her.
“Of course I still don’t fully understand. Just a trace. But… since I have received Hyang-hwa’s heart, I will keep living and keep thinking about it. I don’t know who you are….”
A wave of pink petals flooded her surroundings.
“I will accept it. And one day I will know!”
[: Is that so?]
A figure laughed from the darkness.
[: You have listened well. Then, as the creator of the key and the owner of the Jongmyeongja mark—[Similar Jongmyeongja Liberation Jongmyeongja]—I will bestow upon you a curse as payment for giving you the key.]
From within the darkness a colossal form shot toward her.
[: Until you reach the number thirty-three thousand, so long as you borrow the power of the Liberation Jongmyeongja you will never utter a single word from your mouth. Your tongue will convey no meaning other than taste. Your will can only be expressed through action. No matter what form your mouth takes, your intent will never be expressed.]
Paaa—
Something was pulled from Kim Yeon’s mouth and sealed into the darkness.
Instinctively she knew what it was.
It was her own spirit tongue.
From now on she would be unable to speak with her mouth, telepathically, through consciousness, or through any other means.
That was the price of accepting the Liberation Jongmyeongja in exchange for her heart.
A miserable curse, yet she closed her eyes and accepted it.
Even if she could never speak to the one she loved again, even if she could never say “I like you” with her own mouth, the fate given to her by her dearest friend would still dwell within her.
The traces of Jo Yeon and Buk Hyang-hwa had now continued into her life.
With resolve, Kim Yeon stepped out of the darkness and continued forward, forever replaying the hearts of Jo Yeon and Buk Hyang-hwa.
* * *
Oh Hyun-seok stared at the child slowly fading before him.
He had lived in the Wangshi Palace of Boryeok State for years.
The child he had rescued had already overcome the gloom of the past.
Now he saw Oh Hyun-seok as his true father.
“…Hehe…”
He laughed.
“Ha… ha ha… aha ha ha…”
He kept laughing.
Another memory flowed into his mind.
Seven hundred years of memories.
Memories from another world.
And he understood.
That other world was the true one to him.
That was why he understood.
In the past few years he had tried so hard not to attach his heart to this child, yet now the child had become his true son.
Oh Hyun-seok finally understood the true purpose of this world.
Each person who entered this world was given a distinct role.
Yeon Wi had fallen into the situation she feared most.
Jeon Myeong-hoon faced the exact situation he had always longed for.
Oh Hyun-seok himself had once experienced being a father to a daughter he had miscarried in a previous loop; this time it happened again.
‘The true purpose of this world… is to show the possibility that the person has tried most desperately to ignore.’
Kim Young-hoon was an ordinary scholar with no family or ties.
Oh Hyun-seok was a father holding his lost daughter.
Jeon Myeong-hoon was a man in a world where his beloved lived.
Yeon Wi was a world where her beloved truly existed.
Seo Eun-hyun… was a world that remained nothing but a filthy wasteland from beginning to end.
The world that revealed the most hidden desires people had concealed and created the possibilities within them—this was the true nature of the world.
Oh Hyun-seok realized the essence of this world was a dream.
Because the human heart could only be realized in dreams.
And once he understood this world was a dream, everything made sense.
‘I… I have been missing my child that much.’
He could see the part of himself he had ignored for so long.
‘I… I wanted to become a father.’
Salt poured on a wound inflicts hellish pain yet cleanses the wound.
This world was like salt poured on a wound.
Oh Hyun-seok embraced the new daughter fading before him.
“Daddy… where are you going? Daddy…?”
“Don’t worry… it’s me.”
He cried and smiled.
Only now, at the moment of parting, did he understand.
He had thought of her as an orphan and himself as the guardian of an orphan.
But she was already his child.
Oh Hyun-seok was already a father.
And…
All fathers show their children the face of a smile.
“I’ll be back soon.”
Chi… chi… chi—
A purple light swirled around him.
The laws of the world were blurring and his true body’s power was returning.
In the past Seo Eun-hyun had taught him about Purple Soul Filling the Heavens.
A power that contained the possibility of evolution for all living beings, which would suit his recent study of the Golden Armor Soul Restoration Technique.
And today—on this very day—while comprehending his own fate, Oh Hyun-seok understood the true meaning of Purple Soul Filling the Heavens.
‘A transmission of words meant for someone else.’
Sseureuk—
The laws of Purple Soul Filling the Heavens entered the inner world of Salt Mountain.
The laws became a single flower bud and were placed into his daughter’s hand.
“So… sleep for just ten more nights.”
Sarak—
Oh Hyun-seok’s Purple Soul Filling the Heavens bloomed into a flower and rested in his daughter’s hand.
His daughter smiled at him.
“Daddy must come back.”
“Yes. Do you believe your father?”
Her figure gradually blurred and finally vanished.
And Oh Hyun-seok wept.
He had wanted to become a good father.
But he had been just a few minutes late to the hospital and lost his child.
That was why he had lived in self-reproach.
But…
He had become a father in this world.
He finally set down a part of that guilt…
And Oh Hyun-seok smiled bravely, tears stopping.
“Life is coming!”
* * *
The companions gathered once more. The “guests” who had come from outside the world stepped back out together.
“Joy!”
They laughed joyfully.
Always laugh.
For the daughter they would meet again someday.
That was his resolve.
‘One day, without fail, we will reunite with all our families and laugh together.’
To laugh together after reuniting with all families.
From that day on, Oh Hyun-seok’s purpose was that.
* * *
“A law that tramples fate…?”
Taesan’s figure vanished.
At the same time Seo Eun-hyun realized the companions were being pulled somewhere.
Paaa—
The Salt Crystal magic circle followed him and settled into his palm.
Oh Hyun-seok shouted “Joy!” Kim Yeon’s cheek bore a white bird, and the others each wore their own expressions.
But Seo Eun-hyun’s face darkened.
‘The Taesan Emperor called me a ghost.’
If a madman capable of swapping an entire universe was a ghost, what exactly was a ghost?
‘Of course it wasn’t his opinion.’
He was one of the highest-ranked beings in the entire universe.
During the infinite regression, the Venerable Heavenly Emperor had once said only the [Oldest One] and the [Master of Light] could suppress him.
A being ranked within the top five in the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds.
Even by that standard, a ghost was no more than suicide—nothing to think about.
‘By my standards he would be a ghost.’
Then what exactly was a ghost?
He gritted his teeth.
‘No matter what, this world has always been more cruel to us than anything we can imagine.’
He could lose no more.
Uuuuung—
His power gradually returned.
He lifted his will and began using the Stern Blade along with the Divine Resonance.
Kuguguguk—
The world twisted. They felt they were almost completely being ejected outside the Salt Mountain.
And what he saw was the Void Space.
The domain of infinite laws and the central boundary zone.
Udeuk—
The moment he entered the Void Space, he lifted the Divine Resonance and the Stern Blade together and clasped his hands.
“Hmm…!”
Paaa—
First, he sent his companions out to the nearest central boundary!
He sensed the central boundary closest to him.
Two central boundaries that held demonic qi!
Pa—
He hurled the companions straight toward the Demon Realm!
Before the companions could even speak, he bent space with the Divine Resonance toward the Demon Realm and followed them.
That was when…
“…Eh?”
Space did not bend.
No divine resonance formed.
No, the surrounding qi felt completely stagnant.
‘What is this….’
And suddenly a chill ran through his head.
‘Wait. When I sensed the central boundary just now….’
He felt two central boundaries with demonic qi.
One was the Demon Realm.
Then the other… was what?
A chill ran down his spine. With it he turned his gaze toward the other central boundary that was not the Demon Realm.
There, a red world existed.
[: I have been waiting.]
“Eh….”
In an instant he activated the Stern Blade.
And immediately after, his entire body, soul, and the entirety of his integration domain were crushed by overwhelming power and he died.
This was his twenty-second regression.
…
…
Time turned.
And Seo Eun-hyun opened his eyes.
‘Died again.’
The last thing he saw in his final moment was the True Immortal Hyeol-eum, brimming with malice toward him.
‘Even if one learns the Stern Blade, one cannot fight a True Immortal who truly masters it….’
And then he felt something strange.
“…Eh?”
It was the Void Space.
But the problem was not that.
“Eh, eh?”
His companions were there.
And Oh Hyun-seok was shouting “Joy!” Kim Yeon’s face had a white bird drawn on it.
His head froze. He immediately repeated what he had just done.
He sent the companions to the Demon Realm and tried to follow them quickly.
But his Divine Resonance and Stern Blade were completely useless.
And he saw the red world again, staring at him from behind.
[: I have been waiting.]
Kwadzik—
Once more everything was crushed, and he died.
This was his twenty-third regression.
=====
[Author’s Note: Today is Mother’s Day, so we will continue the weekly serialization for this week only. Thank you.]
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