Seo Ran's Family (1)
"First, if you have the __Takhon Mancheon__ I implanted in you, pull it out and return it. The same applies to my companions."
At those words, Seo Hyul nodded.
Wow...
I stared at the vast quantity of dark shadows that had poured out from me and my shadow, all flowing back to Seo Hyul.
This madman...
I clicked my tongue at the amount of __Takhon Mancheon__ Seo Hyul had hidden away.
Though it was true that the nature of __Takhon Mancheon__ made it easy to hide in the dark and hard to detect, this was beyond any reasonable level.
I had always sensed its existence, but I never imagined it would reach this quantity.
Indeed, it was an entity that demanded vigilance.
"State your purpose, Seo Hyul."
"...Truth exists in the Water Realm. And reaching that ultimate truth. That is my goal."
"......"
I glared at the man.
"What do you intend to do with that truth you obtain?"
"......"
I will not tolerate falsehood.
Upon hearing my words, Seo Hyul looked at me with cold eyes for a moment, then spoke.
"I cannot tell you."
"Have you forgotten who holds your lifeline?"
I infused even more Underworld power around Seo Ran, causing him to mutter.
"If you do not ask about my true purpose or my past, I can help you obtain anything you need. But there are two things I can never reveal to anyone. If you seize Seo Ran's neck and threaten me to discover the truth, I will consume all the __Takhon Mancheon__ I have gathered until now, shattering your mind before the Underworld claims me."
Seo Hyul's eyes changed into an unnaturally hollow gaze I had never seen before.
"Do not corner me, Seo Eun-hyun. Even if I die today, I can destroy everything precious to you and still perish. You wouldn't wish for that, would you?"
"......Very well. We will discover it little by little."
I smiled faintly and asked,
"What is Seo Ran's true identity? Why is the __pillar__ of your __Takhon Mancheon__... the person named Seo Ran?"
Seo Ran's eyes nearly popped out of his skull.
"M-Master... What are you talking about...?"
"......I'll explain later."
Seo Hyul seemed to hesitate for a moment, then spoke with a blank expression.
"Seo Ran is... my 'childhood self.' More precisely... the era when I 'believed myself to be a plain human child'... the 'emotions' and 'purity' of that era that I inserted into it. It is exactly that. If __Takhon Mancheon__ is the one that arranged and scattered my memories across the world, then the one that separated only the 'happiness' and 'emotions' I felt during that childhood is none other than this."
"You believed yourself to be a plain human child. What do you mean?"
"Do not ask about the past."
His eyes grew even more hollow.
I see.
The man was cornered.
That hollow gaze I had never witnessed before.
'I must control this carefully.'
If things went wrong, it felt like he would trigger a rampage of __Takhon Mancheon__ at any moment.
"......How far do you mean by 'do not ask about the past'? Yesterday's events—can they be discussed?"
"They can."
"It is not the complete past, but 'the past up to a certain point.' And that certain point is... I see. Since you likened Seo Ran to your 'childhood self,' the 'childhood' you speak of must be the 'past' you refer to. If we exclude that childhood, we can ask about other matters?"
"...Yes."
Seo Hyul glared at me and said,
'Childhood... huh.'
I suddenly recalled Seo Ran's appearance on Bongrae-do.
'On Bongrae-do, Seo Ran was set up as a 'human orphan' rather than a Haeryong tribe member.'
I finally understood the reason.
Seo Ran was Seo Hyul's 'childhood personality.'
And if that childhood personality was the 'one who believed he was a human child,' then Seo Ran, having retained his human identity, naturally appeared as a human on Bongrae-do.
I questioned Seo Hyul.
"I have one question. Then why have you been trying to kill Seo Ran until now?"
The greatest mystery.
If Seo Ran was Seo Hyul's original soul, why had Seo Hyul sought to kill him all this time?
"...Seo Ran was my original soul. It was simply a soul filled with the emotions and purity of childhood. However, it was also the __pillar__ of __Takhon Mancheon__. Originally, it was meant to serve as the core of __Takhon Mancheon__, and I was to insert my personality upon that soul."
Seo Hyul's eyes, as he spoke the truth, appeared completely dark and hollow than ever.
His face was scorched with poison.
Touching him now felt like inviting disaster.
"But an error occurred in __Takhon Mancheon__. After I placed my core inside Yu-o's womb... my core was twisted by consuming Yu-o's emotions. Thanks to that, a new personality was born instead of the 'personality' of me that should have grown naturally. And that new personality acquired a new name. That... is Seo Ran."
"Yu-o's emotions? What emotions did it consume?"
"The life reaction that appears when a living being reproduces and carries offspring inside its body. It is commonly called the emotion of maternal love."
He grinned.
It was a smile more grotesque than any I had seen from him before.
His lips pulled back to expose his gums, his eyes completely devoid of laughter.
A smile as if a machine was imitating a human...
Yet I felt that this grotesque smile was truly the "laugh" of Seo Hyul—unlike the smiles from any previous cycle.
It was amusing. A mere living being's emotion had disrupted my plans. Indeed, Yu-o was originally 'that' Yu-o, so perhaps she had planted a flaw in __Takhon Mancheon__ through techniques I had not yet learned.
"......"
"I realized my plan had failed upon seeing Seo Ran grow. Originally, it was an attempt to infiltrate Yu-o, but my core had instead been infiltrated by Yu-o's manipulations and twisted into something abnormal. So... I planned to 'fix' the broken core."
Finally, the truth about the endless traps he had set for Seo Hyul spilled from his mouth.
"The twisted core acted like an ordinary child. From its behavior to every psychological state, it pointed toward a 'plain existence.' So, I decided to collapse plain existences. First, I set up bullying against Seo Ran to drive him to depression. I aimed to collapse Seo Ran's personality and eventually force him into suicide, thereby resetting my core."
Every time Seo Hyul's plan was revealed, Seo Ran's pupils shook wildly.
He continued.
"However, another variable appeared in my plan. Yeonhoeng. The corruption of the 'truth' of the Water Realm made my __Takhon Mancheon__ stop working at some point. She went against my plan and embraced Seo Ran's mind. In the end, I failed to collapse Seo Ran's personality and force him into suicide. So, as a last resort, I handed him a self-detonation technique to crush the Seopmyeong Ship along with him. The self-detonation technique should have shattered his body along with his memories and personality."
Seo Ran trembled like an aspen leaf at the cruel truth spilling from Seo Hyul's mouth.
I asked through the mind link so Seo Hyul could not hear.
- If you can't hear it, speak it in your heart. I'll be considerate not to let you hear.
But Seo Ran clenched his teeth and said in his heart.
- ...Please let me hear it. I can bear it.
- ...I understand.
Seo Ran asked with a trembling voice.
"Wasn't the explosion of the Seopmyeong Ship meant to liberate the warrior's soul of the Haeryong tribe...?"
"......"
Seo Hyul fell silent at Seo Ran's question, and I told him.
"Answer Seo Ran's question as well."
"...That warrior's Nascent Soul was a tool I prepared to retrieve my soul. After all, my flesh had no meaning to me. Rather, the living body formed from the Nascent Soul was far more useful to me. I planned to blow away your flesh to reset you, then use the Nascent Soul of the Haeryong warrior to give you a 'correct personality' again, erase the soul within the Nascent Soul, and replace it with your soul. In that way, I would regain my 'correct core'."
I no longer gripped Seo Ran's neck.
After all, since it was inside the small dimension I created, I could always release him into the Underworld at any time.
Seo Ran shouted at those words.
"What... What is this 'correct core'! So, does that mean my entire life is 'wrong'!!"
"Yes. It is wrong."
Seo Hyul said with hollow eyes.
"Seo Hyul's life was also wrong, and the life of this failed work called Seo Ran was wrong too. The errors kept growing until they reached the Four Pillars stage. I should have used an even more radical method to reset the core."
"W-What! What in the world makes you say I am wrong so casually! What is it that makes you say that!"
That moment.
'......!'
Seo Hyul's mouth moved.
The Seo Hyul who had always refused to speak about his purpose when I questioned him.
But because it was a question about Seo Ran...
Seo Hyul answered his question, not entirely but partially.
"To find the answer."
"......?"
"This... the answer to 'hatred'..."
"Hatred...? What hatred do you mean...?"
"There is none now. Not for you, nor for me. 'Memories' must fuse with the 'essence' of me and you for that 'hatred' to appear. And... I must know the answer to this. That is my purpose."
"......What in the world is so important about something like that..."
At those words, Seo Hyul laughed grotesquely with completely hollow eyes as if they were gone.
"......Do you not know? The oath I swore with your soul. The resolve to destroy the world if necessary to achieve my purpose... How dare you open your mouth when you know nothing. 'Fake'."
Prrrrk...
Veins bulged on Seo Ran's face.
"......I am... not a fake..."
He trembled and clenched his fists tightly as if trying to endure the anger in place.
It seemed he needed time, so I asked Seo Hyul one more question.
"......Yu-o. The one who was the disciple of Black Ghost Valley that Song Jin cherished... who was she?"
"Yu-o is, without a doubt, Yu-o."
Seo Hyul pointed to 'above' with his finger and said.
"The saintess Yu-o of Myeonggwi Realm. The clone of the saint sent to the Water Realm by the Underworld's decree. However, at the same time... due to the corruption of the Water Realm, her connection to her core was severed, and a new personality, survival instinct, and emotions emerged. She trembled in fear of death and tried to regain her body by any means. That was Seo Ran's mother. The long chess piece I used to infiltrate Yu-o's core. It is Yu-o's true identity."
And Seo Hyul continued speaking.
"Do you understand what I mean? Seo Ran. To infiltrate Yu-o, I scattered the soul of the baby Yu-o had given birth to, and inserted my 'core' to infiltrate the saintess. The result is you. You are not the original Seo Ran who was to be born... but a monster who replaced him."